Maternal Instinct
by Metropolis Kid
Summary: After a ghoul attack, Seras finds a terrified boy in a church. Her maternal instincts kick in, and she takes the boy back to the mansion until they can find out who he is and if he has any family. My first Hellsing fic. Anime-verse, post order 13.
1. Chapter 1: Aftermath

**Maternal Instincts**

Disclaimer: I don't own any material contained within this story. All copyrighted content remains the property of the person, people, or organization that holds the copyright. This story is solely for fun.

AN: This is Anime verse, but I'm going to borrow a couple of things from the Manga. This is the first Hellsing fic that I've attempted to write. I'm a moderate Hellsing fan, not a die hard. I didn't even find out that Alucard was Dracula until about four days ago. So, if I get something wrong please don't flame. Just let me know, and if I can change it without causing a major upset to the story, I will.

Backstory: This takes place shortly after the end of the first, and as far as I know, only season. Integra's not locked up anymore. She's back in charge of the Hellsing organization. I don't know if I'm going to mention this in the fic, but it was thanks to Alucard's threatening of key members of government that they "absolved" Integra. They determined that she was the only one who could keep him in line, which was Alucard's plan all along. Anyway, Hellsing's still investigating the Freak Chips. They've made some progress but they still haven't managed to nail down the party that's truly responsible.

**Chapter 1: Aftermath**

It was another full moon night. Alucard was having a little fun slowly disposing of another fake vampire. This one actually had some minor shape shifting abilities. Alucard had to admit that whoever was making the fakes was improving. They were still nowhere near as much fun as facing off against a real vampire, but the new batch did provide some mild entertainment.

While her master dealt with the vampire, Seras led a small detachment of Hellsing soldiers charged with eliminating the townsfolk who had been turned into ghouls. It wasn't a difficult task, but it had been time consuming. Somehow the vampire had been able to hide his presence for a month, and in that time he'd turned nearly all of the small town's population into ghouls.

Still, Seras and her men had cleansed most of the town. The only ghoul strong hold left was an old church on a hill at the town's border. There were a dozen ghouls guarding the outside of the church and an unknown number within. At least the ones outside wouldn't pose a problem. Seras hefted her Harkonnen and discharged a round into the center of the ghoul formation. The shell exploded on impact, sending blessed silver fragments into eight of the ghouls. As the silver cut into their diseased bodies, the ghouls evaporated into dust. Seras broke to reload her weapon while the remaining ghouls were cut down by bursts of machinegun fire from her men.

Once the ghouls were taken care of, Seras and the other Hellsing soldiers advanced to the church. The soldiers took their positions on each side of the church's main entrance. Seras stood back a few feet and aimed her weapon at the front doors, incase any ghouls decided to pop out when they were opened. One of the soldiers put an explosive strip into the grove between the two doors. He moved back to the side and yelled "Breach!"

The strip exploded, tearing the doors apart and creating an awful racket. Seras rushed into the church. The soldiers followed, in a sweeping motion. Once they were all in, Seras held the center position in an inverted V formation. The Hellsing employees looked around the church. It was not a pretty sight.

There were torn apart bodies of ghouls all over. The dismembered limbs twitched. The zombie like bodies were still alive but they were in too many pieces to do anything else. The sight of the twitching limbs coupled with the stench, naturally produced by the decaying bodies of ghouls, caused one of the rookies to quickly unfasten his helmet. He pulled the headwear down and puked inside it.

One of the more experienced soldiers turned to Seras and asked, "What do you think happened here?"

Seras closed her eyes and reached out with her sixth sense while she tried to determine just that. She sensed the fear that had gripped the town's few remaining human occupants and driven them to seek sanctuary in the church. It actually wasn't that bad a place to go. As long as the church's pastor lived, the holy energy within the church created a barrier against vampire and ghoul attacks. If the pastor and congregation had enough faith, the undead couldn't break in. However, they could be invited in, and that was what had happened here. One group of the people who sought sanctuary had carried a wounded man in with them.

The man had been attacked by a ghoul, but he was strong enough to stave off the infection, for a time. When he finally did succumb to death, his body was twisted into that of a ghoul; and he attacked the humans within the church. As he tore into the humans they cried out and one by one joined the ranks of the undead. Then something else appeared.

Seras couldn't quite make it out. It moved too fast. All she was sure of was that it had red glowing eyes. It leaped out of the shadows and tore through the ghoul bodies. It left nothing but destruction in it's wake. In a matter of seconds, the ghouls were all in pieces and the creature with the glowing red eyes vanished.

Seras wondered what the creature could've been. It was possible that it was a vampire. She couldn't move that fast, but her master had once fought a freak vamp who possessed that kind of speed. However, Seras couldn't sense any vampires in the town except for her master, the one he was fighting and herself. Maybe the creature was a werewolf.

Seras wasn't sure if she believed that werewolves existed; but She figured that if vampires were real, werewolves might be also. And it was a full moon night. Seras wondered just how her sixth sense would pickup a werewolf.

It was then that one of her men walked by the pulpit and noticed a slight breathing sound. "We've got a contact!" The other soldiers surrounded the pulpit. Seras walked over and stood in front of the side that would face toward the preacher and away from the congregation. There was a curtain across that side. Seras grabbed one of her men's rifles and used the barrel to slowly move the curtain aside. She was shocked to see a little boy curled into a fetal position within the pulpit.

The boy was human. One look would tell anyone that he wasn't a ghoul, and Seras could sense that the boy was no vampire. He was shaking and hiding his head. Seras looked closer at the boy. He couldn't have been more than ten, and was completely terrified.

(Well, what do you think so far? If I'm messing up on any of the folklore, please let me know. If you're enjoying the story, I'd like to know that as well. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


	2. Chapter 2: Survivor

**AN: **Okay, I try to respond to all of my reviews. I apologize if I missed you for some reason, but I do try. The thing is Metroid criticized me for clogging up the end of my chapters with review replies and making them seem longer then they are. So I've started messaging my reviewers instead. The problem is that some of my reviewers are anonymous. So what I've decided to do is, respond through messages to anyone who has an account or an Email that I can see. If they don't I'll leave my response at the end of the next chapter. If you do have an account or I know your email and you would rather your response be posted at the end of the chapter than sent to you as a message, let me know and I will post it at the end. I'm just trying to make this as pleasant an experience as possible.

**Chapter two: Survivor**

The boy peeked through his hands and saw the well armed soldiers. He closed his eyes and trembled slightly. Seras felt for the boy. The first time she'd seen a ghoul attack, it had been a harrowing experience; and she was a trained police officer. She could only imagine how terrifying it must have been for the small boy.

Seras did her best to seem nonthreatening as she tried to coax the boy from his hiding spot. In the kindest voice she could manage she began to talk to the boy. "You can come out. No one's going to hurt you. You're safe now." The boy opened his eyes and looked at her. She smiled and was careful to hide her fangs as much as possible. Seras extended her hand. "That's right. Everything's okay now. It's over."

The boy took her hand, and she gently pulled him out of the pulpit. Once out, the young boy wrapped his arms around Seras's legs and hugged her tightly. Seras was a little bit surprised by the contact. She hadn't been expecting the boy to hug her. But she let him continue as she looked around the church.

The red eyed creature had made a terrible mess of things. The ghoul pieces were still alive. They were just unable to do anything. Each of them would have to be destroyed. The agents of Hellsing would end up using a lot more ammunition and time destroying each of the dismembered ghoul bodies then if the ghouls were still together and could be turned to dust by a couple of silver bullets in their hearts or heads. The inconvenience of the extra time and resources was somewhat compensated for by the fact that the Hellsing soldiers' wouldn't have to worry about the ghouls attacking them while they dispatched the foul creatures.

Seras looked back down at the boy who was still holding her legs. His grip had loosened somewhat, and Seras decided to try to find out a little bit more about him. She gently pulled his arms apart and squatted down, so that her eyes were level with his. "Do you have a name?" The boy just stared at her. He was obviously still in shock. Seras pointed at herself. "I'm Seras Victoria." She smiled again, but the boy still refused to speak.

Seras decided to remove the boy from the church. The sight of the still twitching bodies couldn't be helping the situation and neither could the smell. Maybe the boy would be more talkative once he was in a friendlier environment. Besides, the bodies still had to be dealt with, and she was worried that the repeated sounds of gunfire might further damage the young boy's psyche. She motioned one of her men forward. "I need you to take the boy back to the vehicles and wait there. The rest of us will be along once we've cleansed this church."

The soldier reached for the boy, but he pulled away. The soldier grabbed the boy's arm and attempted to pull him back. The soldier struggled with the boy. "Come on! We're leaving!" The boy spun around so that the soldier's arm was wrapped around him. The boy then grabbed the soldier's arm and bit down, hard. The soldier yelled and released his grasp on the boy. He held his arm while small streams of blood seeped in between his fingers. The boy pulled free and spit out the blood that had collected in his mouth, then he ran back to Seras's side.

The Draculina could smell the fresh blood. She had seen the boy spit some of it out, and she was painfully aware of the thick red liquid that was still escaping from the wound in one of her soldier's arms. Her mouth was beginning to water, her tongue starting to grow. However, she fought against her instincts, to feed on the blood of mankind. She was not some mindless undead. Like her master, Seras was a servant of God and the Hellsing organization. She would not be ruled by her temptations. Seras suppressed her darker nature and maintained control.

The soldier had recovered from his surprise. He aimed his gun at the boy. Seras stepped between them. "What do you think you're doing?"

"He bit me! The kid's a vampire, and I'm going to put him down like our mandate decrees."

Seras moved a step closer to the man. Her voice took on a hard edge. "He's not a vampire. A vampire would've never spit the blood out. He's just a terrified little boy who instinctively lashed out in the only way he could think of. Now put the gun away." The soldier hesitated. Seras nearly growled, "That's an order, soldier."

The soldier released his grip on the rifle and let it drop to his side, where it hung suspended by the shoulder strap. Seras said, "Good, now go get that arm bandaged up."

Seras turned back to the young boy. She would take him to safety herself. After all, her men shouldn't have any problems dealing with a bunch of dismembered body parts. She reached out her hand; and after a brief moment of uncertainty, the kid took it. Seras looked at the most senior of her soldiers. "I'm taking the boy to our vehicles. I'm going to trust you to ensure that this church is thoroughly cleansed."

The man snapped to attention and made a quick salute. "Yes, Mam."

Seras led the kid to where the Hellsing vehicles were parked. Integra was already waiting for her. "Where are your men?"

"There taking care of the last of the clean up operation."

"Any reason why you're not with them?"

"We found a survivor, and I thought that we needed to get him out of the town. All that's left of the ghouls are some dismembered body parts. I figured that the men could handle that themselves."

"I should hope so." Integra shifted her gaze from the Draculina to the boy. "This is the survivor?"

Although the Hellsing heir's eyes were upon the boy, the question was obviously directed at Seras. She replied, "Yes. We found him hiding in a church pulpit."

Integra scrutinized the boy with her eyes. "It's strange that an entire town would be turned to undead, yet one young boy would escape. What's his name?"

Interga's scrutinizing caused the boy to tightly grip one of Seras's legs as she answered, "I don't know. He hasn't spoken since we found him. I think he's suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome."

Integra asked, "Well if you don't know who he is, what do you suggest we do with him?"

Seras summoned up her courage and replied, "I think we should take him back to the mansion until we can find out who he is." Seras knew that Integra would not like the suggestion, and one look at her boss's face convinced Seras that she was right. However Seras had managed to establish some trust between her and the boy. She had seen how the boy reacted when the soldier tried to take him from her. Seras didn't want to put the young boy through anything else. If she wanted to be truthful with herself there was something else as well. She felt a connection to the boy, an instinctive drive to protect the helpless child.

(Well I hope you liked the second chapter. Please Review. Once again, I apologize if I've gotten any folklore wrong. If I have, please just tell me; and if I can change it without upsetting the story, I will. But PLEASE don't flame. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)

(To SakuU: Thanks for the review, especially since it was the first one that I got for this story. I'm glad that you're interested. I hope you enjoyed the second chapter and continue to enjoy the story. Since I'm building this story around Seras Victoria's Maternal instinct to help and protect the young boy, I wasn't really planing on parings. However, I'll try to throw a few hints at a SerasXAlucard relationship into the upcoming chapters.)


	3. Chapter 3: Halfling

**AN: **Okay this chapter is a little bit different. The beginning is some stuff that should've been at the end of the last chapter. The break will be obvious. I'm sorry about this, but it was the only way I could see to do what I wanted.

**Chapter Three: Halfling**

As Seras suggested to her boss that they take the small boy back to the mansion, a medic came over to examine the soul survivor. The medic was an older man with crow's feet around his eyes, and his small beard was nearly as white as his thinning hair. However, there was an aura of kindness about him; and if one were to look very hard, they might just catch a small sparkle in his eyes.

Perhaps it was these qualities that convinced the traumatized boy not to fight against the medic's quick examination. Although, it could've simply been the fact that the medic came over to the boy and examined him next to Seras Victoria, instead of trying to take the boy away from her.

While the medic was examining the boy, Integra responded to Seras's suggestion. "The Hellsing organization is dedicated to the eradication of the unholy creatures that infest our world. It is not a babysitting service. We can't just start taking in wayward children. There are already branches of government to deal with orphans and runaways. This is not our concern."

Seras summoned up her courage again and was about to reply, but it wasn't necessary. The medic had found something that would peek Integra's curiosity. "Sir Integra, I think you should take a look at this."

Integra's eyes shifted from her Draculina to the small boy's shoulder. The medic was holding the collar of the boy's T-shirt to one side, exposing a bite mark. Integra bent down and examined the mark.

The bite mark was not made by a human or a vampire. It bore the disaligned pattern of ghoul teeth. The fact that the boy had been bitten wasn't that big a surprise. The whole town was infected. What was a shock was that the boy wasn't showing any signs of infection. Some stouter individuals could stave off infection for hours, but the bite didn't seem that resent. It was already scarred over. There was no way that the boy should still be a human.

Integra ran a finger over the scar tissue as her mind tried to grasp the impossibility of what she was seeing. As Integra scrutinized the boy's scar, he began to whimper slightly. Seras rubbed his head and tried to reassure him. "It's okay. Don't worry. You're safe. Everything's okay."

Integra stood back up and turned to Seras. "Are you sure the boy's not a vampire?"

"Yes, I can sense when someone's a vampire." Integra seemed unsure. Seras added. "And I saw him spit out blood. No vampire would do that."

Seras instantly regretted her addition, for Integra's expression changed from one of curiosity to one of outrage. "And how, exactly, did he get blood in his mouth to begin with?"

Seras shrank back a little as she replied, "He bit one of the soldiers." Seras saw her boss's expression and was quick to add. "But he only did it out of fear. He was terrified when we found him, and he spit the blood out immediately."

Integra pulled out her pistol. Seras exclaimed, "You're not going to shoot him!" Integra shot her a look that would've made Medusa writhe in envy, and Seras meekly added, "Are you?"

Integra ejected her ammo clip. "Not yet." She removed one of the blessed silver bullets and squatted down next to the child. She held her hand out. "Take it." The child hesitated for a moment then extended his hand, palm up. Integra dropped the bullet into the boy's open hand. There was no reaction. She turned back to Seras. "It seems you were right. The kid's not a vampire. And it looks like you're going to get your wish. We'll take him back to the mansion until we can find out why he hasn't turned."

**Two hours later:**

The room was lavishly decorated. It had a high ceiling, eighteenth century hand carved furniture, long embroidered curtains and a Louie the Sixteenth bed. Nothing but the best for the Hellsing family. Although, it wasn't like they didn't earn their luxuries. The boy of course cared little about the guest room's décor. He had fallen asleep almost as soon as Seras laid him on the bed.

The kid had been exhausted. He'd even managed a short nap on the ride to the mansion, which was no easy feet. The Hellsing organization's vehicles, unlike its mansion, were not designed for comfort. They were designed to quickly transport its soldiers through virtually any environment.

Seras had regretted the need to wake the child, once they reached the mansion, but Integra insisted on obtaining a blood sample for analyses. They still had no idea who the young boy was, but DNA testing might tell them exactly what he was. As soon as the Hellsing scientists extracted the blood, Integra allowed Seras to place the child in one of the guest rooms.

After placing the young boy in the guest room, Seras went to the underground levels to shower, change her clothes and go to bed. The sun would be rising soon. In fact it was just rearing its head.

The first beam of sunlight came through the room's large window and slowly made its way across the floor then up the Louie the Sixteenth bed. It came to rest on the young boy. He stirred and twisted ever so slightly, then he got up and slowly drew near the window.

It was not a conscious thought that motivated the child. He was still asleep. No, not a conscious thought, but an instinctive drive. Much like the drive that causes plants to bend their growth in order to maximize exposure to light.

The boy stood in front of the window. His arms stretched out towards the sun, as if he would grab it and pull it into himself. However such a thing was, of course, impossible. So instead the still sleeping boy just stood there, bathing in the radiance of sunrise.

The boy was not the only one in the room. If one were truly observant they would've noticed a small movement in one of the room's shadows. It pulled upon itself, and a face slowly began to form. The face observed the boy with a detached interest and regarded the sunlight with a slightly annoyed expression. It watched the boy for a few moments then, with a barely audible huff, slithered through the floor.

The shadow sank down to Seras's room, where the Draculina was just exiting her bathroom. Seras had just finished her shower. She was about to slip into her night gown and go to bed, or coffin, since that was what she actually slept in. Just as she loosened the towel that was wrapped around her body, revealing the curvature of her bare back, Seras felt a presence behind her. She quickly pulled the towel back up and wrapped it around her again. She turned around.

"Don't mind me, Police Girl."

Seras eepped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

The shadow contorted itself into the image of her master. He spoke in an arrogant and mocking tone, just as he always did when talking to anyone but his own master. "Oh, did I startle the little Police Girl?"

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

"But you can't just appear in my room. I was changing!"

"You can continue. I don't mind."

_I'll just bet he doesn't_. Seras crossed her arms. "I don't think so." Alucard just stood in the corner. It was obvious he had no intension of leaving until they had talked. Seras sighed. "Fine, lets just get this over with. What is so important that you needed to spy on me, while I was changing."

"I was able to pull a word from the mind of the last faker before he met his end. And I wasn't spying. You're my fledgling. You have to be available whenever I need you."

Sears walked up to her master and pointed at him. She was careful to not actually stick her finger in his face. He was her master, and he had a point about her being at his disposal. However, she needed to make it clear that she wasn't going to accept him coming in while she was undressing. He had a right to expect her help, but she was not going to become his plaything. "That doesn't give you the right to barge into a girl's room while she's changing! You could've waited five minutes."

Alucard smirked. "I could've, but I didn't want to. And you're not a 'girl' any longer. You're a Draculina. You've got to learn that. This misplaced sense of modesty has no place in our line of work. When I need you, you have to be available no matter what. Suppose that the mansion was under attack. How many soldiers would we lose while you put on your pants and buttoned up your shirt. Or would you intend to fight the enemy while holding up your towel?"

"Those were not the circumstances."

"Not this time, but someday they very well could be."

Seras sighed again and switched topics. She wasn't going to get pulled into a debate on what might happen, someday. "What was the word?"

"Millennium. They were a group of Nazis with supernatural powers. We thought we put them down during the second world war, but they seem to be rearing their ugly heads again. Integra and I both agree that they're most likely the ones behind the freak chips."

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait. Integra has her new tech department trying to track down one of there cells. As soon as they find one, we deploy and see if we can't get some more information about what they're planning."

"So the reason that you had to talk to me immediately, was to tell me that we are waiting?"

"No. I wanted to talk about the child. He's not human."

At this Seras's attitude softened somewhat. Although she felt a strange compulsion to watch over the young boy, he was still a mystery to her. "If he's not human, then what is he?"

"I'm not sure." That statement was quite a surprise to Seras. She'd never known her master to be unsure of anything. Alucard continued. "He's not a vampire or ghoul. He likes the sun too much, seems drawn to it. But there are more things in the universe than humans, vampires and ghouls. Whatever he is, his blood isn't pure. He's a halfling of some kind, and the mixture makes it difficult to get a clear sense of what he is."

"So you wanted to tell me that you don't know what he is?"

"I wanted to warn you. When you're around him, watch him carefully. I don't know what he is. He could be a danger, possibly even to our kind."

"He's not dangerous. If you saw how scared he was when we found him, you'd know that."

"You've developed an attachment to the boy?" Alucard sighed. "Such is the way of females. Their maternal instinct drives them to care for things they see as helpless. But remember, things are not always as they seem, especially in our world."

Seras seemed to consider that statement for a moment. She could see the truth behind it. Alucard huffed. "Whatever you do don't drink his blood."

That statement enraged Seras, which was Alucard's intension. He didn't want to seem too caring for his fledgling, and he liked to annoy people. Alucard found annoying Seras particularly entertaining. Seras yelled, "I would never do that!"

"Of course not." The tone of Alucard's response made it impossible for Seras to determine if her master meant to be sarcastic, genuine or insulting.

After waiting a moment and failing to get a rise out of Seras, Alucard switched topics. "You know, I do believe they've grown since you started drinking your blood." The expression on Seras's face made it clear that she didn't understand what her master was talking about.

For the first time, since Seras turned around, her master shifted his gaze from her face. He looked down and her eyes followed his. They came to rest on her breast, and Seras knew what the statement meant. The towel covered up her nipples, but her bust line was clearly visible. Before Seras had a chance to think about what she was doing, she drew her arm back and gave Alucard a swift slap in the face.

Immediately after the action, Seras's mind registered that she had just struck her master and she regretted it. It wasn't the kind of thing a good fledgling should do, even if her master did have it coming. Alucard didn't seem to mind though. He emitted a dark chuckle as he reverted back to his shadow form and left her room.

(Well I hope that you enjoyed the third chapter. Please review. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)

(To SakuU: Thanks for review my second chapter. I'm glad that you're still interested in the story. I hope you liked the third chapter and enjoy the rest as well. And don't worry about your first review. It didn't seem like a demand, just a request for something that you really wanted. I tried to add some Seras\Alucard into this chapter, but I'm not sure if it's any good. I never gave much thought to Seras\Alucard before. When I was watching the series, I always figured that he'd end up with Integra, if anyone. Anyway, I wasn't sure quite how to write Seras\Alacurd. I hope that I didn't mess up too badly.)


	4. Chapter 4: Painting

**Chapter Four: Painting**

Seras had only been asleep for four and a half hours when her room's intercom started to buzz. She sighed. _For just once it would be nice to get a full eight hours of sleep. _Seras raised the top off of her bed/coffin and headed for the intercom. The annoying thing was still buzzing when she reached it. She yawned, hit the button and in a groggy voice said, "Yes, what is it?"

An altogether too peppy voice came through. "Oh good, you're up. Listen, I'm running some experiments, and I need a blood sample." Seras recognized the voice as that of the Tech department's head scientist. _Doesn't that girl ever sleep. I mean I know I'm not on normal human hours; but still, she was up when I got back. She's the one who took the blood sample from the boy. And she's still wide awake. I know she's on a perpetual caffeine high, but she should have to sleep sometime. _Seras sighed again. Sometimes being a servant of Hellsing had major disadvantages. "I'll be right there."

Seras didn't bother to change out of her pajamas. Lab two wasn't that far away, and Seras was hoping that she'd be able to squeeze in a couple of more hours of sleep, once she had given the blood. As Seras walked into the lab, she was greeted by the scientist. "Hi Seras! Thanks for coming."

Despite her half asleep state, Seras still tried to be polite. "Hey Abby. You said that you needed some blood."

Abby picked up a syringe and walked over to Seras. "Yup, Don't worry. This'll just take a minute. Please roll up you sleeve."

Seras did as instructed, and Abby stuck the syringe into her upper arm. "You know I don't often get asked to donate. What do you need the blood for, anyway?"

"Oh, just some tests. I'm supposed to find out why the boy you brought back wasn't turned into a ghoul, and we don't have any ghoul DNA on hand. So I figured I'd mix some up. A few drops of your blood into some non-virgin human blood and wham-o. I've got some ghoul DNA to play around with."

Abby finished filling the syringe and pulled it out. "There we go, all done. You can get back to your cool, child of the night, stuff now."

Seras rolled her sleeve back down. If anyone else at Hellsing had said that to her, she'd of thought they were making fun of her; but Abby was different. She actually chose to keep a coffin in her room instead of a bed; and not a bed/coffin like Sears but a real, bury you in the ground, coffin. Seras knew the girl was being genuine.

Sears said, "Thanks." and started to walk away.

Abby called out to her. "No, thank you…" Seras looked back for a moment. Abby's voice shifted into an imitation Transylvanian accent as she finished, "for the blood."

Seras felt a little chill run down her spine. _No wonder no one wants to work with her. I mean I'm a vampire, and she creeps __me__ out__ sometimes._

Seras left the room and decided to check on the boy before she went back to bed. The sun was up, but she could take it. She was stronger than the low level vamps who were destroyed by sunlight. She still didn't like the stuff. It made her queasy, but she could deal with that.

When Seras went into the boy's room, he wasn't there. She started searching for him. Ten minutes later, she was becoming quite worried. It was then that she remembered she was a vampire and felt foolish for searching the mansion like a human. She had faster and better ways to hunt.

Seras tried to relax. She took three deep breaths and reached out with her mind. She tugged at the spider web that interconnected time and space then followed the vibrations. In a matter of seconds she was staring at the boy. He'd found an easel and painting set in one of the rooms and was painting a picture.

The boy suddenly became nervous. He felt like he was being watched. He quickly turned to look over his shoulder, spilling one of the paint vials in the process.

Seras knew that the boy had sensed a presence spying on him, and it scared him. Seras briefly considered trying to enter his mind and reassure him, but she dismissed the idea. A sudden mental contact might frighten the boy even more. Besides, Seras wasn't sure that he'd let her in anyway, and she wasn't yet powerful enough to force her way into another's mind. Instead she switched off her sixth sense and ran to the room he was in.

As Sears entered the room, the boy was kneeling on the floor. He was trying to wipe up the red paint that had soaked into the room's white rug. The boy looked up and saw Seras. For the first time, since she'd found him, the boy spoke. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spill it."

Seras wasn't mad at the kid. To tell the truth, she blamed herself for startling the small boy. She walked over and hugged him. "It's okay. It'll come out." That wasn't likely. It'd all ready set in; and all the boy had accomplished, while trying to get it out, was to rub it in deeper.

Integra would be furious once she found the stain in her carpet, but Seras didn't care. It was just a carpet after all. The kid had been through enough that she didn't think he should be made to feel bad over something so trivial, and it wasn't like Integra didn't have enough money to replace a carpet. Indeed, it was nothing compared to how much money she spent on her boxes of cigars.

While Seras held the boy, she looked at the painting. It was a depiction of the church they'd found the boy in and a good one too, especially considering that it was drawn by a ten year old. The boy had drawn a picture of the fight between the red eyed monster and the ghouls. It was a close parallel to what Seras had seen in her vision, even down to the blurred representation of the creature that indicated its great speed. There were only two major differences between the painting and the vision. One was that the boy had drawn a number of red snakes slithering across the church's floor. The second difference was that, instead of the creature tearing apart ghouls, the boy had drawn normal people. There were dismembered human bodies littering the church's floor, and the creature was in the process of choking the last person in the church.

Seras used her hand to bring the boys face up so that it was staring into hers. She wanted to talk to him about the painting. Seras decided to start off with an easy question, one she already new the answer to. "Did you draw this." The boy nodded.

Seras reflected that she should've known better than to ask a yes or no question. She made her next question one that he would have to speak to answer. "Why did you draw people?"

The boy looked at her strangely. "They were people."

Of course he wouldn't have known they were ghouls. He didn't work for Hellsing, and Seras doubted that the kid was old enough to be watching zombie flicks. Still he had to of noticed that there was something different about the ghouls. "But they weren't normal were they? They looked and acted different, right?"

The boy's response was drawn out. "Not at first, but then they… they started to… to change. They looked different and they got, hungry. But not for food. They started to attack the other people." The kid hid his face back in her arm.

Seras wondered if she was doing the right thing, making the boy relate what had happened._ I'm not a psychiatrist. Maybe I should stop. No, the kid drew the painting because he wants to get it out. He needs to, and he already trusts me. It would take more time to get him to open up to a psychiatrist. The boy's finally talking about what happened. That has to be a good sign._ Seras decided to continue. "What happened after they started to attack the normal people?"

"The ones they attacked became just like them and it kept spreading. There were screams and yells then one of them bit me, but nothing happened."

Seras was having some trouble with that. The bite mark they found had been too healed to have been made while the boy was in the church. "He bit you on the shoulder?" Seras moved the boy's collar aside and pointed at where they'd found the bite mark. Seras was shocked. The bite mark had vanished completely. There wasn't even a trace of a scar.

As Seras checked the other shoulder, the boy answered, "Yes, but nothing happened!" The boy hid his face in her arm again; and this time, Seras could feel her sleeve getting wet. The boy was crying.

Seras stared at the other shoulder. There wasn't a bite mark there either. Seras was perplexed. Scars didn't just vanish, especially not overnight. Then she remembered that her master told her the boy wasn't human. He was some kind of Halfling. Maybe he possessed the ability to regenerate his wounds. Seras decided to worry about that later and get back to what happened at the church.

She lifted the boy's face again. "When did the red eyed creature appear."

The boy sniffed, wiped his face with his sleeve and replied, "It wasn't a creature. It was a monster. It ripped through all those people. It killed them, and… and I think it liked it. I heard it laugh. It was horrible."

Seras thought that it sounded a lot like her and her master when they went into bloodlust. She wondered again if the creature could've been a vampire. There was no point in asking the kid. He didn't even know what a ghoul was. He wouldn't have been able to distinguish a vampire from any other bloodthirsty monster. Instead she asked a question that she thought the kid might be able to answer. "Do you know why it was in the church, what it was after?"

The boy nodded.

"What?"

The boy hesitated for a moment then replied, "It was after me."

Seras took another look at the painting, and she noticed something. The boy had put a lot more detail into the face of the creature's last victim. She stared at the face and recognized it as the boy's attempt at a self portrait. It was then that a terrible realization dawned on Seras. The boy had drawn a picture of the monster killing him. _Shit, he's even more messed up than I thought._

Seras still didn't know if the creature was really after the boy. The boy had been traumatized by the event, doubtless he would've believed the creature was after him. It could've been in the church for a completely different reason, and the boy still would've thought it was trying to get him. However, there was also a chance that the boy was right. He wasn't a normal human. It was possible that some monster may have taken an interest in him. Even her master seemed somewhat curious about the boy.

Whether the creature was really after the boy or not, Seras thought it was best to convince the boy he was safe now. "Don't worry. You're safe here. We've got two companies of soldiers, and the mansion's built like a fortress. Nothing's going to get you."

"I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about you. If… if it comes for me again, you might get hurt."

Seras messed the boy's hair. "Don't worry about me. I'm tougher than I look."

The boy looked up and Seras smiled. After a moment, the boy smiled back. "Jason."

"What?"

"Back at the church, you asked me my name. It's Jason."

Seras held out her hand. Jason and her shook. "Pleased to meet you Jason, I'm…"

"Seras Victoria. I remember. I remember everything, always have."

The last part of Jason's statement had an odious tone to it. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Seras let it slide. She'd already accomplished a great deal. She even managed to get the kid's name. Seras didn't want to push him too far too fast. She decided to try to take the kid's mind off of the creature and the church. "Hey, I'll bet you're hungry. Aren't you?"

Jason nodded.

Seras smiled again. "Come on. Let's find you some breakfast." Seras grabbed the painting and pulled it from the easel. _There's no reason to leave evidence behind for Integra to find. Let how the stain got there be a mystery. _Then Seras led Jason out of the room.

(Well I hope you all liked the forth chapter. If everything goes according to plan, I'm hoping to have the fifth one up on Monday. Reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks.

PS. Does anyone know where I got Abby from? She's not an OC. If you don't know, don't feel bad. It'll be revealed in the next chapter anyway. I'm just curious if anyone's gotten it yet.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)

(To SakuU: Thanks for the review. I'm glad that you thought I did a fine job on the Alucard/Seras scene. I never did read the Mangas. I know a little bit about them from information on Wikipedia, but not a lot. I don't mind writing Alucard/Seras. I just never gave it much thought before. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to enjoy the story. There wasn't any scenes between Alucard and Seras in this chapter, but I'm planing on having one in the next chapter. I don't think it'll be like the last scene though, no Seras in a towel.)

(To Andrew: Thanks for the review. I'm glad that I was able to give you some "great" reading in between you Chem exams. I hope you do/did well on them. I'm also glad that you're enjoying this story, and I hope that you continue to review. But please be careful not to give anything away. I'm trying to keep the boy's origin a mystery until near the end. Using the boy's first name was fine, since I planed to reveal it in this chapter anyway. But please be careful about anything else. Thanks. And I hope that you enjoy the Hellsing Series. I'd recommend the original one though. They recently came out with a new OVA. I've only seen the first two episodes, but I didn't care for them as much as the original. I know that the animation and fight scenes are a lot better, and I've heard that it's closer to the Mangas. But I think that the new series moves too fast. I just didn't see the same attention to building the plot that the original had. Anyway, thanks again for the review. I hope you continue to read, enjoy and review Maternal Instinct. Once again though, please don't give anything away. Thanks.)


	5. Chapter 5: Blood

**Chapter Five: Blood**

**AN:** Okay, this chapter is more like two short ones. The break should be obvious. I've got some more Abby, a little bit more interaction between Alucard and Seras, and the boy finally meets Alucard.

**No Rest for the Wicked**

Seras had quite a hard time finding something for the boy to eat. Children didn't frequent the Hellsing mansion. As a result, there wasn't much in the kitchen that would appeal to a ten year old. Other than the chilled blood, the kitchen was stocked with only rich foods, for Integra and Walter, and hearty foods, for the soldiers.

Luckily, Seras was able to find some eggs. Seras wasn't a very good cook. Somehow learning to cook had never been high on her list of priorities, but she could fry an egg.

Jason was happily eating a plate of them when Alucard appeared. He just shadow shifted into one of the empty chairs. The sudden appearance spooked Jason. He looked over at Seras. "It's okay. He's a friend."

"Yeah kid." Alucard quickly leaned forward and flashed his fangs. "I don't bite!"

Jason recoiled. Alucard chuckled, and Jason's face drew into a scowl.

Seras yelled, "Stop scaring him!" Alucard looked at Seras. Her voice went back down to a normal volume as she added, "Master." _Oooh, My Master can be such a jerk some times!_

_Only sometimes, Police Girl? _

_No, just about all the time._

Alucard was surprised by Seras's reaction. He had expected her to jump once she knew he was reading her mind. Instead she stood her ground. Alucard felt a small sense of pride. His fledgling was coming along nicely. Of course he wasn't going to let her know that. He wasn't the encouraging type. Instead he challenged her further. _What, you're not going to try to take it back? Insulting your master, what a horrible thing for a fledgling to do._

_If you're going to read my mind, there's not much point in me taking anything back. You'd know I wasn't being sincere. Besides, I think you actually take being called a jerk as a complement._

Alucard audibly chuckled. "You're right. I usually do. But on to more important matters, Integra's tech geeks think that they've located one of Millennium's hideouts. Interga's sending a squard of soldiers to investigate. She, of course, has no idea what kind of resistance they'll face. Which is why she wants us to accompany them. She's afraid that the humans might get in over their heads."

"How long before we move out?"

"The squad's gearing up now. You're to meet them out front in ten minutes."

"What about you?"

Alucard grinned. "I don't need to ride in human vehicles. I have my own means of transportation." And with that, Alucard shadow shifted out of the room.

Jason turned to Seras. "I don't like him. He has no heart."

Seras looked at Jason. She was surprised that the boy's expression seemed closer to one of anger than fear. She tried to explain away her master's insensitive behavior. "He's a vampire. He just likes to scare people. Don't worry. He's not really going to harm you."

That was true. As long as the boy was a guest of Integra, he was under her protection. Alucard could no more harm the kid than he could harm his own master.

Jason stared at Seras, "Are you a vampire?"

Seras was a little taken back by the question. Alucard had made his non-human status obvious by shadow shifting and showing off his fangs, but She'd done her best keep from displaying any vampire tendencies around the kid. She even thought she'd done a good job of keeping her fangs hidden.

The kid saw her surprise. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Your eyes are red, and you said that you could sense vampires. I just thought that you might… I'm sorry."

Seras decided to be honest with the kid. She figured that it was better for him to find out now then if he suddenly found her drinking blood. Of course, she didn't want to frighten the child so she was careful how she phrased the revelation. "It's okay, my feeling aren't hurt. I'm just a little surprised is all. Yes, I am a vampire; but I'm a friendly vampire, like..." Seras's mind groped for an analogy that the boy would be likely to understand. "Like Casper."

Jason gave Seras a quizzical look. "Casper's a ghost."

"Yes, but he's friendly. That's my point."

Jason smiled. "I already know that. I have ever since the church."

Seras smiled back at the boy. "Thanks. Listen, I've got to go get changed. Do you know the way back to your room?" Jason nodded. "Good. Then once you're done your breakfast, I want you to go there and stay put until I come back. Okay?"

"No problem-o." Seras smiled again. She kissed Jason on the top of his head and started to leave the room.

As Seras was walking away, Jason called out to her. "You do, you know?"

Seras turned back to the kid, confused look on her face. "I do what?"

"Have a heart. I can hear it."

**Test Results**

It was early afternoon when Integra Hellsing walked down the stairs that led to the mansion's lower levels. Abby Sciuto had told her that the tests on the young boy's blood had provided some fascinating results. Integra had asked what the results were, but Abby insisted that she see them for herself.

That was why the Hellsing heir was headed to lab two, which was Abby's private lab. Although Abby was the head of the tech department, she didn't work well with others. She even claimed that her last assistant had tried to kill her. That's why Integra agreed to set Abby up in a separate lab. Under other circumstances Integra would've just told the girl to get over it or replaced her with someone who didn't mind working with others, but Abby was a tech genius and often contributed more than all the other techs combined.

Despite Abby's talent, Integra still had some reservations about the girl. She was not English, but had instead transferred from the US's Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Abby also had a number of quirks. Although she had a happy-go-lucky attitude, the girl had a dark personality.

She favored gothic clothing, often worked on her list of "Horrible Ways to Die" and, worst of all, slept in a coffin. No mater how hard Integra tried, she just couldn't wrap her head around that one. Why would any human choose to sleep in a coffin?

Integra opened the door to lab two and was immediately assaulted by the sound of an extremely loud Android Lust song. As Integra's hands went to her ears, she barked at Abby. "Would you turn that off!"

The music stopped. "Sorry boss."

Integra's arms feel back to her sides. "That 'music' is revolting. How can you listen to it?"

Abby shrugged. "It helps me think."

_The girl is just plain weird_. "Well, what's so fascinating that I have to see it for myself?"

"Oh yeah, the results. Man are you going to love this." Abby led Integra through the lab. "I found out why the boy wasn't turned into a ghoul, well not exactly why. That's still a mystery, but I found out that something strange happens when you mix his blood with ghoul blood."

Abby stopped at a counter where she had a test-tube of blood and two eyedroppers, also filled with blood. Abby picked up the test-tube. "This is normal human blood, AB Positive, to be exact." She picked up one of the eyedroppers. "This is vampire blood. I would've rather used ghoul, but we didn't have any on hand. So I got some blood from Seras. I think she found it a little ironic. You know, donating blood, since she's usually on the receiving end of things."

Integra interrupted. "Abby."

"Huh?"

"The test?"

"Right." Abby nodded her head then squeezed the eyedropper and let a drop of vampire blood fall into the test-tube. She gently swirled the test-tube, to speed the mixing process. The human blood coagulated slightly and picked up a yellow tint. It had turned to ghoul's blood. Abby picked up the other eyedropper. "This is blood from the boy. Watch what happens." Abby let three drops fall from the eyedropper and again gently swirled the test-tube. The yellow highlights, vanished and the blood reliquefied. It reverted back to healthy human blood. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Integra just stared at the test-tube. Abby put it down, picked up a remote and turned on one of the suspended computer screens. "I had the computers record and analyze the process before you came down."

As the screen provided the visual representation, Abby described what was happening at each stage. "You see, when vampire blood is introduced into non-virgin human blood, it attacks it at the genetic level. It cannibalizes key elements of the DNA strand and bonds with the leftovers. As the now contaminated blood cells bump into the still healthy ones, the virus spreads until it's infected all the blood in the test-tube. But when the boy's blood is introduced, it eradicates the vampire part of the infected DNA and repairs the damaged human elements.

"There does seem to be an upper limit to the blood's effectiveness though. I tried the same experiment with one drop and it wasn't enough to trigger the change back to human. Two drops started the change but were unable to complete it. For awhile the blood became a mixture of ghoul and human, then it reverted back to pure ghoul blood. Still, I'm sure that you can see the possible applications of this."

"Indeed. We may have discovered a way to turn ghouls back to humans."

"It's possible, but I still need to run more tests. It's too bad that we don't have a real ghoul to experiment on. It'd make the work go a lot faster, and it'd be more accurate. As it is, I'm going to have to do the whole thing with test-tubes and computer mockups."

"You'll have a ghoul to work on by the end of the day. Just make sure that you keep the thing restrained. And this lab will be locked from the outside while it's in here. I won't have a ghoul getting lose and running wild through my home. We lose enough soldiers, to those things, out in the field."

"Don't worry. I'll be careful. I have no intension on getting turned into a ghoul. A vampire might be fun, but a ghoul? Yuck!"

_The girl thinks that being a vampire might be fun? Okay, make that crazy, sick and just plain weird. It's time to switch topics here. I still need information on my new 'guest'. _"What do you think about the boy?"

"I think he's kind of cute. You know, in a lost puppy dog sort of way. What about you?"

Integra's response betrayed a hint of annoyance. "I hadn't given his cuteness much thought. I was hoping for a scientific opinion. Have you made any progress finding out exactly what he is?"

"Oh, not much. I know that he's at least half human, but I'm afraid that's about as far as I've gotten."

"How do you know he's half human?"

"His X chromosome has the exact same genetic structure as a normal human's. Since the X chromosome in males is inherited from the mother, this means that his mother was a full blooded human. The problem I've run into is with his Y chromosome. In humans, the Y chromosome is passed from father to son and contains eighty-six working genes and a number of junk ones. The really weird thing is that the boy's Y chromosome not only carriers all of the standard genes, for a Y chromosome, but also nearly four thousand that I can't even identify. That's a pretty big number of mystery genes. Chromosome 1, which carries more genes than any other chromosome in the human body, only has three thousand, one hundred and forty-eight."

All the talk about chromosomes was over Integra's head, but she didn't bother asking Abby to describe it further. Integra didn't need to understand all the technical stuff, as long as the people who worked for her did. She simply replied, "Well, just keep working on it."

Abby gave Integra a thumbs up. "Will do, boss." Then the girl went back to her main computer, sat down, grabbed her extra large Caf-Pow, stuck the straw in her mouth and went back to typing on her computer.

Integra turned around and left the lab. She'd go back to her office and contact Alucard, tell him to bring a live ghoul back with him. Integra permitted herself a subtle smile. It's wasn't something that she often did, but she'd already left the lab. There was no one in the dark corridor to see her, and there was just something amusing about the idea of Alucard having to bring a target back alive.

(Well I hope you liked the fifth chapter. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks. I'm planing on starting the next chapter with the Hellsing raid on the Millennium hide out. So, it'll be a little bit different from the previous ones.

Have a good day, and God bless. Metropolis Kid.)

(To Isis: Thanks for the review. I'm glad that you think the story is "great so far" and that you got a kick out of having Abby in it. I hope you continue to enjoy the story and review.

PS. If by Dhamphir you mean a half human half vampire, I just want to let you know that Jason isn't a Dhamphir. But it was a good guess.)


	6. Chapter 6: Soldier

**AN:** Okay, this chapter is a little bit different. It's devoted to Alucard, Seras and the Hellsing soldier's raid on the Millennium hideout. Jason will be back next chapter. The story's about half over and I wanted to have some kind of fight scene before the one I have planned at the end. This is a Hellsing fic after all. It should have more than one fight scene.

PS. This is longer than my previous chapters for this story. I was planing on the fighting and shopping scenes being the same length, but I'm afraid that the fight scene got away from me a bit. The next chapter should be back down to regular length.

**Chapter Six: Soldier**

**The Raid**

The agents of Hellsing arrived at the Millennium hideout. It was an old, mostly underground, bunker. Just as Millennium, the bunker was a relic from the second world war. Sergeant Fletcher deployed his men. Seras followed them in. She was in the back, serving as the team's support sniper.

Seras had her Harkonnen slung across her back, it's breach loading system not ideally suited to her current situation. She, instead, used a BAERLKS sniper rifle. The BAERLKS, although smaller then her Harkonnen, was still quite large. It was meant to be set up and used as a stationary rifle. Still, Seras had no problem wielding the weapon.

The Hellsing soldiers made an explosive entrance and began to sweep through the building. They stayed close, shoulder to shoulder, and always faced forward. Their formation was the descendent of the phalanx, the legacy of the Roman and Greek warriors of old. With over lapping fields of fire, the soldiers were quick to turn the ghouls, that charged them, to dust.

Whenever the group reached an intersecting corridor or side room, they would stop momentarily. The two men closest to whichever side the unknown area was on would staff the wall connected to it then pop out, guns ready, and sweep the area. The result was always the same: either an immediate cry of, "Clear!" or a quick burst of gunfire followed by the same cry.

The repeated sounds of three round bursts and smell of burning sulfur flooded the air. It was loud. It was rank. Mixed with the death cries of the ghouls and the shouted swears of the soldiers, it was the essence of battle. And although Seras was loath to admit it, just as her master predicted, she had grown to love it.

The few ghouls that retained enough of their human common sense to take cover instead of charging at the enemy were quickly picked off by Seras's BAERLKS. She fired her rounds through desks, filing cabinets and, in one case, even managed to hit a ghoul behind a corner by reflecting the shot off of the far wall.

Together with their Draculina sniper, the soldiers were unstoppable. They were the sword of God, His executioners, plunging the eternal stake through the hearts of the undead. That was, until they reached the fourth level and everything changed.

The bunker had been no simple command base or terrorist cell. It had been a research facility; and when the Hellsing soldiers descended to the fourth and final level, they met the experiments. The experiments were ghoul/vampire hybrids.

Millennium had been working on developing an improved shock troop. It placed freak chips into the bodies of ghouls. The results were impressive. The ghouls became stronger, faster and limber. The results were not completely limited to their physical characteristics either. Although the individual troops were still as dumb as ghouls, they formed a mental link. When they were close enough, this link allowed them a shared consciousness. This consciousness allowed the enhanced ghouls to think and attack creatively, and the more enhanced ghouls around each other, the more intelligent it became.

The enhanced ghouls attacked the Hellsing soldiers, but not like those that fought before. These ghouls jumped around. They favored hanging on walls and ceilings. They jumped to their perches then dug in clawed hands and feet to hold themselves there. They would stay in one spot until one of the soldiers aimed at them, then leap away. The ghouls also didn't charge. They stayed back and fired their rifles into the enemy line.

The soldiers' body armor protected them somewhat; but there were still week spots, specifically the neck. One soldier had already gotten his neck slashed open by enemy fire. The blood splattered across the man next to him, staining the other soldier's helmet and shoulder. Other then the kills by Seras, the Hellsing soldiers had thus far been unable to claim a single hit.

One of the men screamed out. "They're just too fast!"

Fletcher ordered his men to change tactics. "Triangulate your fields of fire! Come at them from multiple directions! If we can't get the bastards when they're stationary, we'll catch them on the fly!"

The men followed their sergeant's orders and finally begun hitting their enemies, but it wasn't enough. Simply scoring a hit wasn't enough to take out a vampire or a ghoul. You had to hit them in the head or the heart to turn them to dust. Another soldier fell, and Fletcher was getting ready to order his men to fall back and hold until he could think of something. Then the sergeant caught one of the room's shadows moving in a way that was contrary to the flickering lights. He huffed. "Bout time you showed up."

A red arm came out of the shadow. It was holding a big black gun with the words "Jesus Christ is in Heaven" written across the side. The gun began to fire, and the enhanced ghouls dropped like flies. Once the room had been cleared, Alucard stepped wholly out of the shadow. He responded to the sergeant. "I was just enjoying the show. For awhile, it looked like you humans might actually manage a mission without my help."

The response was laced with a tone of arrogance. Still, considering the source, Fletcher was tempted to take it as a compliment. However, Fletcher wasn't interested in compliments. He'd just lost two men because Hellsing's secret weapon decided to watch from the sidelines, and he was mad. Fletcher didn't carry the conversation any further though.

Fletcher had been in the employ of Hellsing for two years, and he knew better than to bother. Unless Integra specifically ordered Alucard to bring back all the soldiers alive, the No-Life King would continue to do as he pleased. Well, short of actually killing the soldiers himself. Integra would go ballistic if she ever found out that her servant pulled a stunt like that.

So Fletcher let the subject drop and simply asked, "Is that all of them?"

Alucard decided to do the sergeant the courtesy of answering his question. "I do not sense anymore undead, although there is one enemy soldier left, a woman I believe. She's in the command room." Alucard pointed. "It's at the end of that corridor."

The sergeant turned to his men. "Alright, boys, lets mo…" He stopped as a call came in from the mansion. "We're in the middle of a mission. Yes, Sir Integra, I understand." The sergeant removed his headset and handed it to Alucard. "It's for you."

"My master has impeccable timing. Wouldn't you agree?"

Fletcher didn't answer. Instead he turned back to his men. "Come on. While Dracula and the boss are chatting, let's take that command room." Fletcher's squad left. Seras stayed behind with her master. She figured that the ten remaining soldiers should be able to handle one human enemy by themselves.

As Fletcher's group neared the command room, a German accented female voice sounded. "If you value your lives, You'll stay back."

Now Fletcher was not wholly comfortable with the idea of shooting a woman or ordering his men to shoot one. Sure, he would if he had to, but he'd rather find another way. The woman was talking, and Fletcher thought he might be able to convince her to surrender. "We have you outnumbered. There's no way out. If you surrender, we won't harm you."

"I am Lieutenant Rip van Winkle of Millennium. I do not surrender. Leave now."

"I'm afraid we can't do that."

"Then you will die."

Fletcher huffed. "All right, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

Fletcher heard the voice reply, "I warned you." Then he heard something that sounded very much like the firing of an old flintlock musket. Suddenly a small metallic sphere flew out of the doorway. It stopped and hovered in the air.

The sphere of magic metal hung there for a moment. It spun, then took off around the corner and drove through the chest of one of the Hellsing soldiers. The sphere went straight through his armor, pierced his heart and came out the other side. The soldier screamed, clutched his bleeding chest and dropped to his knees. He would bleed out in less than a minute.

The sphere stopped for another moment, spun again, changed its trajectory and drove through the side of another soldier's head. The impact caused his head to fly forward as he belly flopped to the floor.

Fletcher ordered his men to pull back. They moved to the end of the corridor, and the metal sphere stopped attacking them. Fletcher eyed the piece of metal, which resembled a musket ball. It just hung there, suspended in mid air, and rotated. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't normal. Fletcher and his men would wait and let one of the heavy hitters deal with it. _Where are they anyway? Integra must be done with Alucard by now._

Indeed, Integra was just finishing up with him. "Yes, Master, I understand your orders, but... Yes, I must bring one back alive. I've got it."

Integra hung up. Alucard sighed, and Seras asked, "What's going on?"

Alucard turned to his fledgling. "My master has ordered me to bring back a live ghoul for experimentation."

"What? Why?"

"It appears that your new pet's blood has an unusual effect on ghoul blood. Seems to turn it back to human. Integra wants to test the procedure on a full ghoul next."

"Well I can see why, but all the ghouls have already been killed."

Alucard sighed again. "Yes. As I said, she has impeccable timing."

Seras caught the sarcasm in her master's voice. "What are you going to do?"

Alucard shrugged. "Obey my master's orders, of course."

"But how are you going to do that if all the ghouls are already dead?"

Alucard didn't answer. Instead, he just started to walk away. Alucard began walking down the corridor that led to the command room. Seras followed him. They reached Fletcher and his remaining soldiers. Seras stopped to ask him, "What's going on?"

Fletcher pointed to the hovering sphere. "That thing won't let us through."

Seras tended the soldiers. She could still sense a flicker of life in the one who had been shot through the head. She quickly moved forward and dragged him back to where the others were camped out. Seras tore off a piece of the man's clothing and did her best to bandage the wound. She couldn't help but lick her lips as the red liquid soaked into the cloth, giving the material a reddish black tint; but the Draculina resisted her darker nature and continued trying to save the man.

Alucard kept on walking. He got too close to the sphere and it zoomed through him. Blood trailed from the entrance and exit wounds, but Alucard just kept on going. The sphere passed through him again, but still, he pressed on. Alucard entered the Control room.

Rip saw Alucard enter. She saw her magic bullet continue to pass through his body. She saw the multiple blood trails. She saw Alucard pressing on as if the bullet was nothing more than an annoying insect, buzzing about him. Lieutenant Rip van Winkle saw all this; and for the first time since the bunker had been attacked, she felt fear grip her heart. The Millennium lieutenant quickly fired another shot from her flintlock musket; but even with two magic bullets circling and ripping through him, Alucard barely slowed down.

Rip began to reload her gun. Alucard chuckled darkly, "Do you really think another round will stop me?"

A look of hopelessness spread across the lieutenant's face. Still, she struggled with her gun. She managed to just barely get a third shot off as a very bloody Alucard grabbed her. He sunk his fangs into her neck, the woman cried out and the magic bullets fell to the floor.

The cry was heard by Seras and the soldiers. She left the injured man on the ground. Seras could sense that she'd done a good enough patch job to keep the man from dying. Whether he'd ever be more than a vegetable again, was another story.

The other soldiers followed Seras into the command room. They entered just in time to see Alucard pulling back from the new ghoul. Seras shouted, "Master! what are you doing?"

Alucard wiped his mouth on his sleeve. The remaining blood was absorbed through his arm as he answered, "Following my master's orders. She wanted a live ghoul. Now we have one." Alucard turned to Fletcher. "And the best part is, I won't have to worry about it escaping from you while you're bringing it to the mansion." Alucard then turned to his ghoul and ordered it. "Follow these men and do what they tell you."

The new ghoul simply staggered over to the Hellsing soldiers, all of whom had varying expressions of shock and disgust on their faces. Alucard disappeared into the shadows. The soldiers boxed up all the information in the room. They carried it and their injured comrade to their vehicle. Thanks to one soldiers somewhat macabre suggestion, they even got the ghoul to help them.

Seras raided Rip's purse. She took the lieutenant's money, car keys and sunglasses. Seras didn't feel bad about the theft. Although she was on the books as a transfer from the D11 special forces unit, the Hellsing organization didn't bother to pay her; and Seras wanted to pickup a few things. Besides, it wasn't like the lieutenant was going to use the stuff. Seras informed the soldiers that she'd find her own way back to the mansion and headed out of the bunker.

Once out, Seras put on the sunglasses and looked for a vehicle that matched the emblem on the key chain. Seras found it and was rather pleased. The vehicle was a small black sports car. She got inside and used her sixth sense to sweep the car for bugs. She found one tracking device underneath the dashboard. Seras reach down, yanked the bug off and threw it out the window. Then she swept the car once more and started it up. Oprea music played through the car's radio. Seras changed the station. She searched through them until she found one she liked, then the Draculina drove away.

**Shopping**

Seras got out of her new car. She reached into her pocket, pulled out the money from the Millennium lieutenant's purse and counted it up. "Two hundred and seven pounds." Seras figured that she'd need about fifteen pounds to fill up the tank. That left one hundred and ninety-two. She rounded down to a hundred and ninety. It would be easier to remember.

Seras put the money back into her pocket and walked into the store. She grabbed a cart and pushed it a short distance. Seras found that the cart pulled to the right. She left it off to the side and grabbed another.

Seras tested this cart too. Satisfied, she walked through the second set of doors. An older gentleman greeted her as she entered. "Welcome to Wal-Mart." He smiled.

Seras knew that welcoming the customers was the man's job, but the greeting and smile both seemed genuine. Seras smiled back. "Thank you."

Seras resumed her shopping. For some reason, while wheeling the cart through the store, Seras felt more human than she had since she went to work for Hellsing. It just seemed so normal. Right then she wasn't a Draculina fighting against the forces of darkness. She was simply a woman, shopping for supplies to take care of a child; and her first destination was the food department, specifically the breakfast isle.

On her way to the breakfast isle, Seras saw a display of small bags of mixed frozen vegetables. She opened the freezer door took out one of the bags and read the cooking instructions. They simply said to heat the bag in a microwave for three to four minutes. Seras figured that she could handle that. She put five of the small bags into her cart and resumed walking towards the breakfast isle.

Seras entered the isle and began to look through the different breakfast cereals. One caught her eye. She pulled it from the shelf. It was a box of Count Chocula.

Count Chocula had been Seras's favorite cereal when she was growing up. She thought about buying a box for Jason, then decided he already had enough vampires. He didn't need one on his cereal box.

Seras put the box back on the shelf and continued down the isle. A moment later, she stooped and grabbed a box of Cocoa Pebbles. If she remembered correctly, they tasted almost identical to Count Chocula. However, the box lacked the vampire mascot. Seras also grabbed a box of the nearby Fruity Pebbles. _Just incase the kid doesn't like chocolate or is allergic or something. _Seras put both boxes in her cart and continued through the store.

Seras came to the meat department next. She grabbed a few packs of Ballpark Beef Franks and put them in the cart. Then she got some rolls and ketchup. Seras's finger tapped her chin as she tried to recall her mental shopping list.

_What's next? Oh yes, milk. Kid's need milk, and the only thing at the mansion's cream for Integra's tea. _Seras walked down to the milk. She looked them over.

Seras didn't think that the brand could matter much. After all, it all came from cows; but she was debating over the percentages. _Whole, two, one or skim? The boy's already got a good deal of sugar in his cereal. I should probably get him a healthier milk. The skim should have the least amount of fat, but it probably tastes awful. I'll compromise. _Seras put a gallon of one percent in her cart. She headed towards the juice next.

Seras wondered what kind of juice Jason would like. She shrugged._ I really have no way of knowing. _She grabbed a pack of fruit punch juice boxes.

Seras heard a feminine voice say, "Juicy Juice."

Seras turned her head to look at the woman standing next to her. "Excuse me?"

"I saw you shrug. You're looking to get some juice for a kid right?" Seras nodded. The woman continued. "Well you don't want that stuff." The woman pointed to some small writing on the side. "See? It contains ten percent juice. The rest is just sugar water." The lady showed Seras the pack she had chosen and pointed to the writing in one of the corners. "One hundred percent real fruit juice. This is the stuff you want."

Seras put the fruit punch back on the shelf and took the pack of juice from the woman. "Oh, thanks."

"No problem. I've got one of my own." The woman moved to the side and revealed a four year old sitting in her cart. The young girl was brushing her Barbie's hair. "I know how hard it can be to find healthy foods. The government really should do something about all the artificial stuff those big companies add to their products." As the mother continued to complain about the government and food industry, the little girl dropped her doll.

Seras reached over and instinctively snatched it out of the air. She handed the doll back to the girl. The mother stopped her speech and commented, "Wow! You must have been ten feet away. How'd you mange to grab the doll before it hit the floor?"

Seras shrugged and replied, "Just lucky."

"Yeah, I guess so." The mother still had a surprised look on her face.

Seras continued, "Ah, I think I got all of my groceries. You wouldn't happen to know where the toy department is, would you?" The mother pointed. "Thanks again." Seras headed for the toy department.

Seras wasn't really sure what Jason would like to play with, but he did seem to enjoy painting. She selected a large pad of paper, a box of magic markers and a pack of colored pencils. _At least the boy will be less likely to stain Integra's rugs with this stuff._ Seras also grabbed a couple of board games and a few action figures to balance things out.

Seras's final stop was the clothes department. She bought two new sets of clothing for Jason and indulged in a set for herself. Seras wasn't sure when she'd get the chance to try her new outfit out. She mostly had to stay in uniform, but there were a few times when Integra wanted her undercover or at least in less obvious clothing. Seras knew that she'd get to wear the outfit eventually.

Seras paid for the stuff in her cart and headed out of the building. She passed the same people greater on her way out. He waved and said, "Have a good day."

Seras waved back. "You too." She left her cart in-between the two sets of doors. She didn't need the thing now that the items had all been bagged up. She reached down and pulled the bags from the cart basket. As a vampire, Seras had remarkable strength. She was only barely aware of the bags as she effortlessly carried them from the store and placed them into her car.  
_  
All in all, it hasn't been a bad day. I made some progress with the kid, busted the bad guys, saved the life of one of our soldiers and even got some shopping in. No, not a bad day at all._

(Well, I hope you enjoyed the sixth chapter. I know that Jason wasn't in it, but I wanted to do a fight scene. Seras will be back at the mansion in the next chapter. So she'll have some more interaction with Jason then. Anyway, I hope you didn't mind my little detour here. As always, Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


	7. Chapter 7: Monster

**Monster**

Seras returned to the mansion. She put the food away then brought the toys and clothes up to Jason's room. Jason was pleased with the gifts, even the clothes. Normally he didn't care for clothes, but all he had at the mansion was the outfit he arrived in. It was torn, ragged and stained. Jason was grateful for something else to ware, even if it did have a stereotypical dinosaur on the front.

Seras was pleased that Jason liked the clothes she picked out for him. She did insist that he take a bath before changing though. Jason said he would, but asked that Seras play one of the new board games with him afterwards. She smiled and agreed.

While Jason was bathing in one of the mansion's fourteen bathrooms. Seras was drinking a pouch of medical blood. She was hungry after fighting against the Millennium forces in the bunker and thought that it was the perfect time to sate that hunger. Jason knew she was a vampire, but she didn't want him to see her actually drinking blood if it could be avoided. So she drank while the boy bathed, then went back to his room to play a board game.

Seras had let Jason pick which of the three board games they would play. He had selected Sorry and they were already on their third game. Seras had let Jason win the first; but he discovered it and demanded a rematch, one were Seras would try her best. She beat him in the second, and they were now having a tie breaker.

Jason sat directly in the stream of sunlight that poured through the room's window, the beam of light making him seem to almost glow. Seras sat across from him, with the game board in the middle. Seras was out of the path of direct sunlight, instead resting in the shadow cast by the room's rather ostentatious curtain.

Seras was beginning to think she should of quit while she was ahead. Jason already had two of his men home and his other two out. Seras still had three men in start. There were only two cards left before one of them would have to shuffle and recycle the discard pile. It was Seras's turn to draw. She picked her card and was pleased to see that it was one of the special Sorry ones. Seras uttered the dreaded phrase in an excited and teasing manner. "S-o-r-r-y!" She placed the card in the discard pile, took one of her men from start and bumped off Jason's furthest player.

Jason teased her back. "You just wait. I'll get you for that."

Seras stuck her tongue out slightly then replied, "Yeah right, you're going down."

Jason put his hand on the last card but didn't flip it over yet. "Oh, I don't think so. You see the last card's another Sorry and you're man's going right back to start." Jason flipped the card and proved himself correct.

"How'd you know what the last card was?"

Jason smiled. "Please, give me some credit. There are four sorry cards in the deck and three have turned up since the last shuffle. The last card had to be a Sorry. It really wasn't a difficult thing to predict."

Seras smiled and retorted, "You've been counting the cards! That's illegal, you know."

Jason replied, "Actually that's a myth perpetrated by the casinos. Card counting is only illegal if you use an outside devise, a hand held calculator or PDA for example. It's perfectly legal to keep track of the cards in one's own head."

Seras laughed and threw a pillow at Jason. "What are you, a lawyer?"

Jason caught the pillow and set it down beside him. "No I've just got a really good memory."

Seras leaned forward. "Good memory huh? So tell me, have you been keeping track of all the cards or only the Sorrys?"

Jason's smile grew larger. "All the cards, but only for this game. I let you win the last one to make things even."

"Why you little cheater! No wonder you've been killing me." The smile vanished from Jason's face. _Oh, great, what did I do now? _"Hey Jason, you know that I'm not really mad, right? I'm just teasing you."

Jason's tone took on a solemn edge. "It's not that." He looked away.

Seras got up and walked over to him. She sat down beside the boy. Her stomach began to turn from now being in direct sunlight, bur she ignored the uncomfortable feeling. "Then what is it?"

The boy looked up at her, looked down then asked, "If I ask you a… difficult question, will you give me an honest answer?"

Seras was surprised. She wondered what the boy could want to ask her, that he would be afraid she'd lie about. After thinking it over for a moment, Seras decided that, whatever it was, it would be better to be honest with the boy then to lie to him. "Yes, I will. What do you want to ask me?"

"You've killed, right?" The boy looked up at Seras.

Seras lowered her head in conformation and braced herself. Somehow she got the feeling there was more to the question. The boy continued, "When was your first time?"

Seras sighed. "Two weeks after I became a cop. A man, a drug addict…" She looked at Jason. "Do you know what that is?" Jason nodded, and Seras continued. "Anyway, he broke into a small corner store. The owner activated a silent alarm and my partner and I responded. We think that the crook was only after the money in the register, but he was high on something. As soon as he caught sight of us, he started shooting at the customers. He didn't actually kill any of them. Whatever he was on must've affected his aim, but we couldn't let him just continue firing. My partner and I went for our sidearms. My partner was an older cop. I was faster. I drew my gun and double tapped the crook in his chest."

Jason asked, "Double tapped?"

"I shot him twice."

"Oh, how old were you?"

"Eighteen, and fresh out of training. I'd seen death before, gruesome, horrible death. But that was the first time I'd ever caused it. Why did you want to know?"

Jason looked back down. "I was five. A thug was after my mother. I didn't even think. I just lashed out and… and I killed him."

Seras whispered to herself, "You were five?" Seras pictured her own childhood, when her mother and father were killed in front of her eyes. She remembered stabbing one of the men through the eye, but she didn't kill him. She tried to, but she wasn't strong enough. Instead she got herself shot and was forced the watch her parent's killers rape her mother's body. When they were done, they left Seras there to die from her gunshot wound.

Jason heard her. "Yeah, the guy… he never even saw it coming. I crushed him and there was blood, blood everywhere."

How Seras whished that she'd been able to do the same to the ones who came for her parents. How she wished that she possessed the same strength then that she had now. She could've killed them all. She could've saved her parents just like Jason saved his mother.

Seras imagined her younger self ripping those men, those horrible, horrible men, to pieces. She imagined how great it would've been, how proud her father would've been of her. But Seras's fantasy was broken by Jason's next words.

"My mother, she looked at me with this shocked expression. She couldn't believe what I'd just done. I felt like a monster."

Suddenly, Seras's fantasy changed. She still killed the men and saved her parents, but she went bloodlust crazy in the process. She was licking her victims' blood from off their dead bodies when she looked up and saw the terrified expressions of her parents. They yelled, screamed, called her a monster and ran out of the house. Seras was left alone again. "What did your mother do? Did… did she leave you?"

"No. She loved me anyway. But I could never forget that night. I could never forget the face of the man I killed, the sight of his dead body or my mother's expression. That night, I still have nightmares about it. And then at the church I…" Jason's voice trailed off. After a moment he whispered, "What if I really am a monster?"

It was then that Alucard walked through the room's far wall. The No-Life King had become bored on his own and sought his fledgling out for some amusement. He was upset by the sight of his fledgling holding the small boy. _I told her to be careful around him. I warned her that he might be dangerous; and there she is, hugging him. Who does she think she is, Maria von Trapp? Such emotional attachment is unbecoming of a vampire._ Yet even while Alucard thought this, he found himself unable to look away. There was just something about the way they were sitting, about the way the hated sunlight reflected off of their heads giving them both an angelic appearance. Alucard hated the sight.

He hated it because, deep down, in the most hidden regions of his tormented soul, the last tattered remains of his humanity called out to join them. They looked so much like a mother and a child that a fantasy played out before the vampire's eyes. It was a simple one, a life with a wife and a child. The wife bore the face of his fledgling. The child had his mother's nose and blue eyes but his father's raven hair.

It was an impossible life, but still the ancient vampire couldn't help himself. It was so different from his other fantasies. Alucard thought it strange to have come so far, gained so much, lost so much and in the end truly want so little. There wasn't even a castle or manor in his fantasy, just a small farm house were he and his wife could live in peace and raise their son. The vision seemed so perfect that for a moment he actually asked himself, _Could it be possible? Could it? _But over five hundred years of bloodshed and the souls of nearly two million victims echoed back, _No. There are no happily-ever-afters, not for monsters, not for you. _Still, the No-Life King could permit himself a few more moments of this, this wonderful torment. He could permit himself just a little bit more time to stare into the life he could never have.

Seras pulled the boy to her. "Now you listen to me. You're not a monster. I've known monsters, and they don't regret what they do."

Alucard overheard his fledgling and couldn't help but think, _Oh Seras, yes we do. If you only knew how much a Monster can regret. We simply hide it. We lie to ourselves about it, because we cannot change what we are. A rose by any other name, Dracula or Alucard, I am what I am. I can't change it. Some of us are simply too far gone. _Although, Alucard did find himself agreeing with the next words out of Seras's mouth.

"They kill because they enjoy it. They revel in it."

_Of course we do. It's the only thing left to us. We are forever denied peace, so we revel in war. What other option do we have? We take our joy where we can get it._

"What you did, you did to save someone you loved. You didn't do it for pleasure. You did it to protect your mother. You just remember that, okay?" Jason nodded. He didn't cry, but Seras could see tears in his eyes. She held him close and patted his head.

Alucard felt a pain stab through the emptiness, where he once possessed a heart. _That's enough torture for one day_. He shifted and sank through the floor. The No-Life king would allow his fledgling a little bit more time to be what she could never truly be again, to be human.

_It'll get better. It always does. Sooner or later, my master will again unleash me. There will be killing and blood, so much blood. I will forget these disgusting, these weak, thoughts and once again embrace what I have become. I may not have long to wait either. Already I can hear her calling for me. I am coming, my master. What knew slaughter might you have for me, what knew fun?_

(Okay, seven chapters down. I'm guessing three or four to go. This chapter had the second real hint at a Alucard/Seras relationship. Once again, I'm not sure if I did a good a job with it. I don't know if I was able to keep Alucard in character or not. I didn't really want to write Seras ending up with someone whose only after a roll in the hay. After everything she's been through, I think she deserves someone who really cares about her. On the other hand, I can't write Alucard as some lovey dovey Prince Charming. It's just not in his character. So I'm trying to walk a fine line here, make Alucard caring but still the monster we all know and well... like to see shoot things and destroy stuff. I'm not sure if I'm succeeding or not. Your opinions would be welcome, even if they're negative, just as long as they're constructive. No flames please. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


	8. Chapter 8: Guest

**Guest**

**Master and Servant.**

Integra was standing behind her desk. She'd been calling her servant for over a minute now, and she was getting upset that he hadn't answered yet. He wasn't on a mission. Integra knew that he'd returned hours ago. He was in the mansion, somewhere. It shouldn't of taken more than three or four seconds for him to respond.

Now, no one would ever categorize Integra as a patient person. However, even she didn't mind waiting a few minutes for someone to answer her page. It wasn't the time that bothered Integra, it was the fact that her servant was ignoring her calls. That could not be allowed. Integra shouted again. It was a rather long, drawn out shout. "A-l-u-c-a-r-d!"

Alucard finally walked through Integra's wall. "Yes, my master."

Integra spoke harshly to her servant. "Where have you been? I've been calling you for over a minute."

Alucard tipped his head slightly, a sign of respect to his master. However, Alucard did retain his usual, arrogant tone. "I apologize. I'm afraid that my mind was preoccupied. It took a moment for your summons to register."

"Really, and just what thoughts so cloud a vampire's mind and make him unable to respond to his master?"

Alucard lied. He seldom did that to his master, but he wasn't going to tell Integra that he was fantasizing about retiring to a farm and raising a son with his fledgling. Such thoughts were not becoming for a master of darkness. Besides, Alucard knew his master wouldn't have believed him anyway. "I was concentrating on the lingering effects of the Millennium Lieutenant's blood. As you know, it has been quite awhile since I got any from the tap, so to speak."

Integra was somewhat placated by the answer. It meant that her servant wasn't ignoring her. He was just wrapped up in his usual perversions, and took a moment to hear her. This was still unacceptable behavior, but it wasn't as bad as if he heard her and simply ignored the summons for sixty seconds. "In the future, I would recommend that you remain more alert during your revelry."

Alucard tipped his head again. "Of course, my master." Alucard had an arrogant smirk on his face as he brought his head back up, but Integra ignored it. She knew that submission didn't come easily to her servant, and he was obviously trying his best.

Integra sat down in her Spanish Leather, wing tipped, office chair. She motioned towards the nearby couch. Alucard took the hint. "I just got finished reading Fletcher's report." Integra held up the piece of paper that obviously contained the report. She looked it over again, although that was completely unnecessary. She'd already memorized the important parts. "It says here, that you didn't show up until they reached the fourth level. Care to explain your tardiness?"

"It's simple. They were doing fine for the first three levels. They didn't require my assistance."

Alucard was, of course, reading his master's mind. He knew her reply before she said it. _That is not your determination to make_. Integra started to open her mouth, but Alucard preempted her.

Alucard spread his arms in a wide and generous gesture. "Of course, if you would rather your men become completely dependant on a vampire…" He just let the sentence hang. He already knew that he'd made his point.

Defeated, Integra switched topics. "We could discuss this further, but your timing is not the only disturbing thing in Fletcher's report. And I consider the other matter more important." Integra opened the cigar box on her table top, pulled out a Cuban and cut off its end. "I want to talk about Hellsing's expanding list of undead servants." Integra lit up, and allowed herself one long drag before continuing, "A fledgling just wasn't enough, huh? I hear you're branching into ghouls."

"Now, Master, that isn't fair. You ordered me to bring back a live ghoul, and I'm compelled to obey any order you give me."

"And this compulsion forced you to drink the Lieutenant's blood?" Integra sounded unconvinced.

"Master, you already have the report. You know that the ghouls had all been killed before your call came through. In order to obey your order, I needed a live ghoul. The only way to get one was to make one." Alucard lowered his glasses slightly and looked at Integra over the rims. He didn't need to do it. He was quite capable of reading her entirely through her mind, but he wanted her to know that he was watching her reactions. "If you would've preferred, I could of turned a random citizen; but I thought you would rather I bring you one of our enemies. Besides the obvious benefit of not having the other knights complain about your servant hunting down London's residents, you may be able to extract some useful information from the Lieutenant. If you do actually manage to change her back, that is."

Integra took another drag. She briefly wondered if Alucard knew that she smoked because he drove her to it. After dealing with Alucard, one needed a way to unwind. Integra's father opted for alcohol; she preferred nicotine. Integra let out a puff of smoke. "Well, it seems that you've thought of everything."

Alucard bowed his head. "Indeed, Master? You flatter me."

"I do, do I?"

"Why yes. What servant would not be flattered by such praise from his master?"

Integra didn't bother to answer the question. "You just better not make a habit out of turning people to ghouls."

Alucard got up. He took Integra's last statement to mean the conversation had ended. On his way out, Alucard offered up one final reply, "Of course not. Anything I do is in service to you, my master." Alucard walked through the wall and disappeared.

Integra failed to restrain a small huff. _Yeah, right. And Jack the Ripper was only trying to clean up London._

**Drawings**

Once Jason calmed down, Seras took him to the kitchen. The boy hadn't eaten since the plate of eggs she made him for breakfast, and it was already late afternoon. Jason sat at the table, drawing in the pad of paper Seras gave him, while Seras made his lunch.

Seras finished, brought the plate over and set it down in front of Jason. Two hotdogs, with ketchup, side of veggies and a Juicy Juice box, it was a pretty good kid's lunch for someone who couldn't cook. Jason thanked Seras, put his marker down and closed the pad.

Seras sat down across from Jason. "Mind if I take a look?" She pointed to his pad. Jason shrugged and pushed it over to her.

Seras opened up the pad and was surprised to see that he'd already filled the first fourteen pages with drawings similar to his painting. She wondered how he was able to draw the pictures so quickly. _He couldn't have been alone more than a half hour since I gave him the pad. _The drawings weren't masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination. They more resembled the pages of a comic or manga, lacking only the words. However, Jason had done a good job of maintaining the sizes of his characters and objects, also the pages were fully colored. Seras noticed that the borders around the objects were a slightly different shade from the interiors. _The boy must draw the outlines using the colored pencils then fill them in with the markers_.

Seras flipped through the pages and noticed that they portrayed a sequential series of events. The first one was an almost exact duplicate of the boy's painting. The second picked up where the painting left off and showed Jason balling up his fist. In the third, he swung at the red eyed creature and momentarily stunned it. The red snakes seemed to take notice of this, for they stopped slithering across the floor and turned toward Jason and the monster. In the fourth page, Jason used the monster's stunned state to twist out of it's grasp. The snakes drew closer. The fifth page showed the monster recovering and lunging at Jason. In the sixth, the monster knocked Jason to the floor, and fell on top of him. The snakes came ever nearer. The seventh showed Jason struggling under the monster. He gained some leverage in the eighth, and the two combatants began to roll around on the floor. The snakes started to slither closer to each other. By the ninth drawing Jason pinned the monster. The lines between the snakes began to blur. In the tenth painting, Jason wrapped his hands around the monster's throat. The number of red snakes decreased, but the remaining ones were considerably larger. In the eleventh, the monster interlaced its arms with Jason's; and in the twelfth, it pulled his hands from its throat. The snakes were nearly to Jason and the monster. As Jason and the monster continued to struggle on the ground, the snakes slithered over them in the thirteenth . The fourteenth drawing had only been partially colored in. It showed the two combatants completely covered by the snakes.

Seras thought about the drawings. She wasn't sure if they were a representation of what really happened, before they found the boy, or his psyche attempting to deal with what he saw by creating a scenario of being able to fight back. Seras was tempted to favor the latter since the red snakes were an obvious deviation from what she did know happened. However, the snakes might have just been the boy using some artistic license. _Either way, it must be a good sign that he's fighting with the monster now, instead of drawing it choking him to death. Still I can't help but wonder about the snakes. Why add them, and why show them combining? What could they mean? _

Seras decided to ask Jason. "You know, these are pretty good; but I'm a little confused about the snakes. There weren't any snakes in the church, were there?" It was another question Seras already knew the answer to, but she figured it was the best way to get Jason to talk about them.

"No."

Seras waited a minute then pressed further. "So, what's with the snakes."

Jason hesitated a moment before answering. "They're one of the symbols from the Valley of the Elders."

"Valley of the Elders?" Seras had never heard of it.

"It's a… I mean it use to be a crystalline valley, to honor those who came before us and laid the ground work for peaceful civilization."

"Use to be? What happened to it?"

"It was destroyed, a long time ago." Jason sounded sad.

Seras didn't ask about the valley's destruction. It was obviously a sore spot. "So if the snakes are a symbol, what do they represent?"

"Contained within a diamond shield, the winding, red serpent is a warning not to return to the ancient dishonesty and violence of more barbarous times."

Seras looked at the drawing again. "You didn't draw any diamond shields. The snakes are all free."

Jason answered with a simple, "Yes."

Seras waited, but Jason just took another bite of his hotdog. It was obvious that he had no intention of elaborating further. Seras prodded him again. "So, what do the snakes mean when they're free?"

Jason didn't answer, instead he stared a little too intently at his vegetables. Seras knew that the boy was hiding something. Maybe he knew more than he was letting on. "Jason." Seras waited until he looked up, then she smiled encouragingly and continued. "What is the red eyed creature, really."

Jason stared at her for a moment then replied, "He is: Ares, Mars, the second horseman who heralds the apocalypse. He is war, unbridled hate, anger and rage."

Seras thought about Jason's answer. It was eloquent, the kind of answer given by a philosopher or prophet. She hated those kinds of answers because they were deliberately designed to conceal the truth. Maybe it was the 'police girl' in her, but Seras liked nice, simple, straight forward answers.

Seras was about to question Jason further, but they were interrupted by Walter, Integra's butler and angel of death. "Excuse me, but I'm afraid that Abby requires a bit more blood."

Seras let out a sigh. "I'll be right there."

Walter replied, "My apologies, I'm afraid that I wasn't clear enough. Abby doesn't need anymore blood from you, Miss Victoria. She needs some more from the boy."

(Okay, that's chapter eight. I'm going away for the weekend, so I might be a couple of days late with the next update. Sorry. Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, as is your opinion on the Master and Servant scene. It's the first time I've done Integra trying to deal with Alucard. I hope I got their relationship right. Even with removing any romantic undertones, they have a pretty complicated relationship. And it's not that easy to write.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)

(To Dizzy: Thanks for the review. I'm glad that you think I'm "succeeding really well." Good point about Dracula. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.)

(To Doomforyou: Thanks for the review. I'm glad that you're enjoying the fic so far. I'll try to keep a better eye on the homophones, though I'm sure some mistakes will still slip through.)

(To SakuU: Thanks for the review. It's good to hear from you again. I hope that you enjoyed/are enjoying your trip, and I hope that you are also continuing to enjoy this fic.)


	9. Chapter 9: Turning

**Turning**

**AN:** I guess the story's going to be a little bit longer than I expected. I'm already up to chapter nine, and I haven't started the last fight yet. I hope no one minds a couple of extra chapters.

**Donating Blood**

Jason sat in a chair, his sleeve pulled up to his shoulder. Abby walked over to him. "Now don't worry. This won't take long." She dabbed his shoulder with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and Novocain. Abby waited a moment then put the needle against Jason's arm. "Just like last time, this shouldn't hurt." Abby looked over at Seras as she finished. "One little pin prick and you can go back to hanging out with the cool, vampire lady."

Abby stuck the needle in and extracted the blood she needed. When she pulled the needle out, the wound closed up immediately. "Huh, that didn't happen last time."

Jason saw Abby staring at his arm. He shrugged. "I was tired before. I'm not now."

"Well, I'm sure Integra will want me to figure it out; but, right now, I've got a ghoul to turn back to a human." Abby took the blood and walked over to one of the counters.

Seras used the lab's intercom to page the guard outside and ask him to unlock the door. He did, then she and Jason left the lab. On the way out they overheard Abby exclaim, "This is so cool. I love my job."

**Abby and the Ghoul**

Abby filled a syringe with Jason's blood and walked over to the ghoul. It seemed quite docile, never bothering to move except to obey an order. Still, it was heavily restrained and the Lab's door was locked from the outside, just as Integra said it would be. Even if this was Alucard's ghoul, they weren't going to take any chances.

Abby brought the tip of the syringe to the ghoul's chest and pushed it in, through the skin and muscle. Abby pushed the plunger down injecting Jason's blood directly into the ghoul's heart. She pulled the syringe out and waited.

At first nothing happened. But after a moment, the ghoul started seizing. Abby jumped back, startled. The restraints buckled as the ghoul's body spasmed uncontrollably. The restraints held, barely. Abby couldn't help but wonder how much longer they would last. Suddenly Abby added a new item to her list of horrible ways to die, being ripped apart and eaten by a ghoul. It quickly climbed to the top.

Then the ghoul stopped. It's eyes screwed shut; it's body fell limp. A few seconds passed, and all was still. Abby walked back over to the ghoul and grabbed its wrist, searching for a pulse. As soon as Abby's fingers came into contact with the ghoul, it's eyes shot open, the purple glow replaced by a bright red one. Its right arm pulled against the restraint. The restraint snapped, and the ghoul reached for Abby. She moved back again, staying out of reach while the arm twisted and flapped in the air. Abby ran for the intercom. There were two Hellsing soldiers outside. All she had to do was call them. But just as she reached the intercom, the hand dropped across the ghoul's chest. It laid there; and, once again, the ghoul was motionless. _Is this thing playing with me or something? _

Abby just watched the ghoul. She kept her hand poised over the intercom button as time ticked by. After three whole minutes, overcome by scientific curiosity, Abby summoned up her courage and, once more, approached the ghoul.

Abby walked over to the ghoul. It didn't move. She shook its leg. It still didn't move. Abby walked up to it's face, making sure to stay out of reach of its unmoving but freed arm. When Abby reached the head, she noticed that the ghoul was breathing normally, some natural color had returned to it's face and there was substantial skin regrowth in its cheeks and around its mouth.

The ghoul's eyelids were still closed. Standing above its head, Abby gently forced one open. Neither a purple nor red glow greeted her. The eyes had reverted to a natural, human shade of blue. "I guess the stuff's working." Abby said to no one in particular. She pulled up a chair, grabbed her drink and watched the Lieutenant turn back into a human. The labs recorders were on. They'd capture everything; but, for some reason, Abby felt compelled to observe the fascinating transformation first hand.

About halfway through the transformation, Seras walked back into the lab. She'd left Jason in his room. He seemed quite content to play with his action figures for awhile, and Seras wanted to know if Abby was making any progress. Seras was curious for two reasons. For one thing, the ability to turn ghouls back to humans could be very useful in the war effort. The other reason was more personal. Seras didn't want Jason to end up in an orphanage. She remembered her own time in one, and she had hated it. If Jason's blood provided the means to cure ghouls, Integra would be far more likely to let him stay.

Abby didn't notice Seras at first. She was too engrossed in watching the ghoul. It wasn't until the other girl was standing right beside her and said, "It seems to be working." that Abby finally took notice.

"Seras, where did you come from?"

"I wanted to see how things were going."

"They seem to be pretty good, so far. I had a little scare when its eyes started glowing red and it snapped one of the restraints, but things seem to have quieted dow…"

Seras interrupted the other girl. "Excuse me, but did you say that it's eyes started to glow red?"

"Yes."

"And this happened after you injected Jason's blood?"

"Almost immediately after, why?"

Seras didn't answer. She just got up and quickly moved to the intercom. Abby followed and asked, "What's going on?"

Seras turned to her. "Nothing. I just remembered someplace I have to be." Seras paged the guard and asked him to open the door. He did, and Seras stormed out of the lab.

Abby commented. "Why doesn't anyone around here ever trust me to know what's going on." She huffed, then went back to watching her ghoul.

It took a total of a half hour for the transformation to complete. Then instead of an obedient ghoul, Abby had to deal with an extremely aggravating captured Millennium Lieutenant. "What is this place, a lab? You can't use prisoners for experimentation! It violates the Geneva Convention! I demand to speak with your boss, immediately!"

"Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses, Eva Braun. My boss is going to want to talk to you too." Abby turned around, went for the intercom and activated it. "Integra, our Millennium guest wants to talk to you."

Integra's voice came through the intercom. "You mean you actually managed to change her back?" Abby was surprised. Integra sounded positively shocked, and she seldom displayed any emotion. "I'll be right there."

Abby walked back over to the prisoner. "Integra's on her way."

"Good, and turn off that noise!"

Abby's hand slammed down on the nearest counter top, making Rip flinch. "Noise, noise? This happens to be Hellraiser, Suicide Commando's top rated song. And if you're planning on insulting it again, you should know I have more than enough ghoul blood stored up to turn you back."

Rip's attitude improved remarkably. "You know, now that I've heard a bit more, I think I like it."

"You think?"

"I like it! I like it!"

**The Red Eyed Creature**

Seras left the lab and nearly ran to Jason's room. She looked around, but he wasn't there. Once again she reached out with her sixth sense to find the boy. She hoped that she wouldn't startle him like last time, but she needed to talk to him.

Seras's third eye found Jason standing outside the mansion. His hands were stretched out, and he had his eyes closed. His body was facing the sunset, and he looked very much like he was bathing in its last rays. Seras broke the connection and rushed out of the mansion. She felt a slight uneasiness in her stomach when she stepped outside. However the sun was nearly down, so it wasn't too bad.

Seras ran to where she'd seen Jason, but once again he was gone. "Where is he now?"

A voice answered her from the mansion's roof. "Seras, is that you?" She looked up to see Jason's head peaking over the side of the roof."Yes, what are you doing up there?"

"I felt like someone was watching me."

_Great, I scared him again_. "Oh, sorry about that. It was me. You wouldn't mind if I came up, would you?"

"No, but I think it might be easier for me to come down." Jason swung his legs over the roof and grabbed onto a drain pipe.

"No, not like that!" It was too late. Jason was already sliding down.

Jason impacted the ground, turned around and looked at Seras. "Do you want to play another game? We could try that Stratego one."

Seras looked at the boy's hopeful expression. She really didn't want to be hard on him, but she needed the truth. It was just too big a coincidence that the ghoul's eyes glowed red after being injected with Jason's blood. "Jason, we need to talk."

Jason stared at Seras. She seemed too serious, and that worried him. In Jason's experience nothing good ever happened when the adults turned serious. Jason tried his best to keep an upbeat attitude, though. "Sure, Seras. What's up?"

"I need to talk about when we found you, the red eyed creature that… fought the ghouls."

Jason lowered his head. "I don't want to talk about that."

Seras prodded him. "It was you wasn't it?" Jason didn't answer. He didn't even move. He looked as if he hoped the question would just go away. After a moment, Seras pressed him a little bit further. "I need an answer."

Jason's right arm flew out and punched the reinforced concrete wall. The hole he made went straight through the wall and into the mansion's interior. Jason's head came up to look Seras in the face. His eyes were glowing red. "I said, I don't want to talk about it!" Jason pulled his arm out of the wall. There were small cuts across his knuckles. As a single drop of blood slid down Jason's hand and fell to the ground, the cuts scarred over.

Seras jumped. She wasn't truly afraid, but she was startled and on her guard. She hoped that Jason wouldn't actually attack her, that she wouldn't be forced to defend herself and possibly hurt him in the process. _Although, maybe I should be more concerned about myself. I've got no idea just how powerful this kid is, and Master did warn me that he could be a threat. But he wouldn't really try to hurt me, would he?_

Seras's concern turned out to be unnecessary. As soon as Jason saw the worry on her face, he closed his eyes and shook his head. Jason mumbled something about control, but Seras couldn't quite make out what. Then he opened his, no longer red, eyes and disappeared in a blur. Seras was rather surprised by the speed.

After a moment, Seras recovered from her shock. She reached out with her sixth sense again and attempted to locate the boy. He'd moved far to quickly for Seras to keep track of him with her eyes. She found the boy hiding under the bed in his room. He was curled up into a fetal position again. Seras went to talk to him. Although, she had her doubts as to whether or not it was the best idea.

_Maybe I shouldn't be doing this by myself? If Jason's strong enough to punch through reinforced concrete and can move faster than I can see, he might be able to really hurt me. But he doesn't want to hurt me. If he did, he could've attacked me outside. Instead he ran away. Still, maybe I should ask my master to come along, just incase. Seras, what are you thinking? Your master! He'd either deliberately provoke the kid or shoot him. No, Master is not the kind of 'person' you bring in to help calm down a situation. _Seras was already walking up the main stairwell while she continued thinking. _Maybe I should go back and get my Harkonnen. Oh yes, that's just what you want to do. Barge into the kid's room packing a seven foot artillery piece. That's just bloody brilliant. _Seras reached Jason's room and stopped. She debated on whether or not she should knock. Seras decided it couldn't hurt. When she knocked, Jason's voice came back. "Go away! Just… just leave me alone." Seras took a deep breath, then went in anyway.

Jason heard her enter the room. "I said go away."

Seras could hear the boy gently sobbing. "Yeah I heard you, but… but we still need to talk." Jason didn't answer. Seras rephrased the statement. "You need to talk. It'll make you feel better." _At least, I hope it will._

After another moment, Jason replied. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get mad. I really didn't."

Seras put her voice into its most comforting tone. "I know you didn't. It's okay. I know you wouldn't really try to hurt me."

Seras heard Jason snort. "How do you know that?"

"Because I know you. I know you don't really want to hurt anyone. Now come out from under there." Seras tried a joke to lighten the mood. "I feel silly talking to a bed."

Seras didn't see Jason shake his head, but she did hear his reply. "Not coming out."

Seras reached down and grabbed the bed. She lifted it with one arm. Jason's head came out of his hands. He stared at Seras. She smiled warmly and half joked, "Either you come out, or I'm coming in."

Jason forced a grin onto his face. "You're pushy, you know that?" He rolled out from under the bed's shadow, and Seras set it back down.

Seras replied, "Sometimes you have to be pushy." She sat down beside Jason. "What really happened at the church?"

"If I tell you, you won't like me anymore."

Seras had to try hard to keep from laughing at that. With the things she'd seen her master do and some of the things she'd done herself, Seras didn't believe there was anything that the boy could've done to make her repulsed. "Impossible."

"Huh?"

Seras grasped Jason's hand and noticed the scars had already vanished. "It's impossible for you to tell me anything that would make me stop liking you. But I have to know what happened, and you've got to tell somebody. You can't just keep it bottled up inside."

Jason let out a long sigh and started to tell the tale.

(Sorry about not having Jason tell the story in this chapter. I just ran out of time. I not cutting it out, though. I think the story needs it. It'll be in the next chapter, probably in the beginning. Anyway, I hope you're all still enjoying the story. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


	10. Chapter 10: Confession

**Confession**

**AN: **Okay, the beginning of this chapter is Jason telling what happened before Seras found him. To help the tale flow better, I haven't inserted any of Seras's, reactions to the specific things that I mention. Her overall reaction can be seen after the flashback.

**Flashback**

"I heard them, you know, the humans in the town. I was miles away, in my parent's hotel room, but I heard their screams. It's not really that impressive. My father can hear across entire continents. My hearing's pretty much confined to whatever city I'm in, and I don't have much control over it. My hearing just kind of cuts in and out, randomly. But I heard them, their shouts, their screams, their cries for help. I couldn't ignore them. I opened up the window and jumped out.

"We weren't that high up, fourth or fifth story. When I hit the ground I took off. I ran to the shouts of terror. It didn't take me long to reach them. I'm pretty fast. I shouldn't have gone, not on my own. I should've called my father. He could of saved those people, but I didn't. I wanted to save them myself. I wanted to be a hero, just like Father. I should've known better. I'm no hero. Hero's save lives; they don't kill. But I tried anyway.

"I ran to the center of the town. When I got there, it was a mess, buildings on fire, dead bodies in the streets and those things eating them. I gagged, when I saw that, but moved on. I couldn't help the people who were already dead. It was then that I noticed I had lost the screams. My hearing had kicked out; and I couldn't follow them anymore. I just stood there for a moment. I didn't know what to do. One of those ghouls, jumped at me. I grabbed it, and threw it away like a rag doll. I didn't kill it though. After it smashed into a parked car, I saw it get back up and limp off. I thought about following it. I thought it might lead me somewhere, but then I heard a cry. My super-hearing was still out, but this one was close enough that I didn't need it.

"The scream came from a small, corner store. The family that owned it, was upstairs. The ghouls were coming for them. The father was standing at the top of the stairs. He had a shotgun and was trying to hold the ghouls off. He was doing okay, but one managed to bite his ankle. I ran up, pried its jaw open and threw it away from the man. I beat on the rest of the ghouls until they staggered off. It didn't take long. After I broke a couple of their jaws and threw a few of them into the building across the street, they staggered off to find easier prey.

"The father seemed impressed, then he slumped to the floor. His family, a wife and two kids ran over to him. I remember the fear on their faces. It was different than the terror a moment before. Now, they weren't worried about themselves, they were scared of loosing their father.

"His ankle was still bleeding. His wife tore off a piece of her dress and tied it off. The blood loss slowed. I picked the father up and slung him over my shoulder. I turned to his family. 'We've got to get out of here.' They nodded and followed me out of the store. They didn't even question who I was or how I was strong enough to carry the father. I don't think they really cared, just as long as they had someone to help fight off the ghouls.

"When we got outside, there were three more ghouls. I set the father down and dealt with them. When I went to pick him back up, he shook his head and pointed to a wheelbarrow in front of a nearby hardware store. I ran over, grabbed the wheelbarrow and brought it to the man. I set him down inside. His wife insisted on wheeling him herself, said that I could protect them better if I had my hands free. I didn't argue. We went through the town. I managed to help some other people along the way, and our group grew in size. Pretty soon, we had two families, a few couples and a couple of loners. I was leading them all through the town. I felt like a big hero. Ha! I was nothing more than a fool.

"We found a church on the town's border. It seemed intact. I led the group in. When I asked the priest why the church hadn't been attacked, he said that it was under God's protection. There were already a few people inside. They were kneeling in the pews, praying. The priest said that he'd be happy to shelter us too. I left the others in the church and went out to gather more survivors.

"Eventually we were all hold up in the church. The priest said that we only had to make it to sunup, that the ghouls couldn't stay out in the sunlight. We could all leave then. It sounded good to me. I'd done it, gotten the people to safety. I thought myself quite the hero. I even counted up how many I saved. Can you imagine that? I counted them like a rancher taking stock of his herd.

"Thirty-four, that was the number, including one wounded father. I should've never gotten involved. Then at least the priest and few people who were already in the church, before we got there, would've made it.

"The father… He started to change. He got angry, not at anything in particular, just at everything around him. The candles were too bright. The prayers were too loud. His ankle was wrapped too tight. The church was too dusty. I'd never heard so much complaining from an adult before, at least, not about such unimportant things. I don't think his wife had either. She asked him what was wrong, but he didn't answer. About five minutes later, he started complaining about pains in his stomach, said he was hungry. The priest had been generous with what was to be the Lord's supper. He said that since he hadn't blessed it yet, anyone could have some. He only asked that we remember the others and takes small amounts. The father's daughter brought him some crackers and grape juice.

"But that wasn't what he was hungry for. He bit a chunk out of his daughter's arm. She screamed and started crying. I ran over and pulled her away from him. His face was stained with his own daughter's blood, and he was smiling. I shouted at him, 'What's wrong with you!'

"His face changed into a confused and shocked expression. 'I don't know. I just…' He grabbed his stomach and hunched over. His eyes closed, and I thought he was dead. Then he raised his head and said 'Young flesh is just too tender'. His eyes shot open and they had this eerie purple glow. The man lunged at me, but I threw him off. I turned back to his daughter. I was worried that he'd go after her again, but she was already attacking her little brother. Her eyes were glowing too.

"I didn't know it could spread. I really didn't. How could I? But spread it did. I just stood there while the infection spread throughout the church. I knew that I should do something. I tried, but my body wouldn't obey my mind. I was frozen to the floor as I realized that I hadn't saved anyone. All I'd done was bring them to their doom. I didn't move again until, one of the ghouls bit me. I wasn't even aware of it at first. I just felt a numb pain, then I turned and looked at my shoulder. The father had his teeth sunk into it, and something in me just snapped.

"Everything that I'd tried to do, all the people I thought I'd saved, it was all a lie. My eyes started to burn, and I just attacked. I crushed the father's head and tore through the others like they were made of cardboard. They were slow. They were clumsy. They were week. They were nothing but savage animals, and then they were nothing but twitching body parts.

"My eyes weren't burning any longer. I shook my head and looked at what I'd done. It was horrible. I couldn't believe it. In one moment of uncontrolled rage, I'd killed everyone I was trying to protect, everyone I was trying to save. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand what I'd done, what I'd become. I fell down and cried. I cried until I heard you and the others coming. My hearing had been on since I went crazy. I heard your hearts, your breath, your weapons and everything you said. I was afraid, afraid of having people see what I'd done, so I hid."

**Seras's Reaction.**

Seras just stared at the boy. She knew he was the red eyed creature so she'd expected the part about tearing through the ghouls, but the rest of it? No, she hadn't expected the rest. _Wow, no wonder he's so messed up. Because he brought the infected man to the church, he blames himself for the whole thing. He wanted to be a hero, instead he led them all to their deaths. That would mess up anyone, but a ten year old kid, one who shouldn't have even been placed in that kind of situation to begin with… What do I say to him? Do I tell him it's not his fault? No, because in the strictest sense, it is his fault; and he knows it. _

_He's the one who brought the man to the church. He's the one who gathered the other survivors there, and he's the one who ripped them apart. Of course, I don't blame him for what happened, and he shouldn't blame himself. He had no way of knowing. Maybe I should tell him that? But he already knows that too. He said it._

_I could tell him that he didn't actually kill the ghouls, that they were still alive when we got there. No, I doubt that would be any comfort. In fact, it might make things worse. Jason's a smart kid. He might realize that all those ghoul body parts were suffering from what he did to them, suffering until my men put them out of their misery._

_He's looking at me, same hopeful look he always gives me. Oh God, what do I say to him? What do I do? _Unable to think of anything else, Seras just wrapped both arms around the boy and hugged him she didn't know it, even if she'd had years to think of a proper response, she couldn't have come up with anything better.

Jason knew exactly what he'd done. He wouldn't have accepted lies to make him feel better, nor did he want her to make excuses for him. He'd opened up, told her everything, and she proved that it didn't change how she felt about him. In that, Seras gave Jason the best gift she could of. She accepted him for what he was, a flawed, imperfect ten year old who had tried to help and failed miserably. He wasn't a hero, and Seras didn't care. He was what he was, and that was enough for her.

**Interrogation**

Integra nailed the Lieutenant with a strong right cross. "I told you I wasn't going to ask nicely again."

Rip spat in Integra's face. "I don't care how many times you ask or in what ways. I will tell you nothing!"

Integra wiped her face off and replied, "Oh, is that so? Alucard!"

One of the room's shadows shifted slightly, and Alucard stepped out of it. He replied, "Yes, my master?" Rip could swear that the room's temperature dropped by at least ten degrees.

"The Lieutenant is being difficult."

"And you need my help? I could probe her mind, but she probably has the same mental conditioning as the others. This could take some time."

"Agreed, and we've wasted enough time already. Abby's found another hideout." Integra lied. "I think we'll have better luck with someone else."

"You mean?"

"Yes, Alucard. The Lieutenant is of no further use. Do what you want with her."

Alucard didn't reply. He just started walking to the Lieutenant. He could've reached her before she even saw him move; but, instead, he moved slowly, ever so slowly. And with each tap of his foot against the concrete floor, the Lieutenant's terror increased.

"This isn't going to work." She struggled against her restraints. "I will tell you nothing. Nothing!" Alucard was to her now. She could feel his breath on her neck. It felt cold. _Shouldn't it feel warm? _"I am an agent of Millennium. I will not betray my people." Alucard gently ran a fang over the same spot he drunk from last time. "I've been a ghoul before. I can be one again."

Integra chuckled. "A ghoul? Is that what you think he's going to do to you? Oh, no my dear. He's not going to turn you back into a ghoul. He's going to consume you utterly and make you a familiar. You thought being a ghoul was bad, just wait."

Alucard applied a little bit more pressure to his fang and just started to penetrate the Lieutenant's skin. She screamed out. "All right! I'll talk! I'll tell you anything you want to know! Just keep this monster off of me!" Alucard extended his vampire tongue and slowly licked the small trail of blood that came from his incision. Rip added a pleading and rather pathetic sounding, "Please?"

At this Integra responded, "Alucard."

Alucard turned to her. "Yes, Master?"

"Down boy."

(Well, thats chapter 10. I hope you liked it. Please Review. Thanks. I'm going out of town for a couple of weeks so the next few updates to this story may become less frequent. I might drop down to one a week instead of two. Sorry, but I'm not sure how much time I'm going to find to write while I'm out of town.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


	11. Chapter 11: Millennium

**Millennium**

**AN:** Okay, Seras and Jason aren't in this chapter. It's mostly about Rip. Sorry, but I need this chapter to set up for the final battle. I've tried to make it entertaining despite the lack of this story's two main characters. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

**Escape**

Rip sat in her cell, desperately trying to think of a way to escape. The guard outside her cell was sleeping. It was her best chance, and she had to find a way to utilize it.

Rip's captors had turned her into a ghoul simply so they could experiment with turning her back. She had no illusions about what her final fate would be. Once she was no longer a source of useful information, she would be killed or worse. _Not that I'm being treated any differently than Millennium would treat a captured Hellsing soldier, but we're the 'bad guys'. Damn It! They're supposed to be held to a higher standard._

It was then, that Rip heard a familiar voice. "There you are. I've been searching everywhere and nowhere for you. The Major wants a status report on research facility alpha."

Schrodinger's insanely peppy voice was easily identifiable. Even were this not the case, Rip would've known who her visitor was without having to turn to him. _Who but Schrodinger would ask an enemy's POW for a status report? _Rip turned to the junior warrant officer, flames practically in her eyes. "You want a status report ?" The cat boy nodded enthusiastically. He seemed completely ignorant of Rip's anger. "I'll give you a status report! The Hellsing soldiers overran the bunker! They destroyed the experiments, and then that big red vampire of their's sunk his fangs into my neck! He drained my blood and turned me into a ghoul! How's that for a status report?"

The cat boy was floating in the air, rocking back and forth, obliviously happy. "Well, it seems a little short, compared to your normal reports. However, I shall deliver it to the major at once." Schrodinger started to vanish.

"No! Wait!"

Schrodinger stopped, "Yes?"

"Aren't you going to help me get out of here?"

"I don't know. It never crossed my mind. I was only told to get your report and bring it back to the major."

_Of course it never entered your mind! If you ever had an original thought, it would die of loneliness. The only thing you do is follow the Major's orders; and if they're more than two sentences long, he writes them out for you because he knows you'll never remember them! Wait a minute!_ An idea entered Rip's head. "Schrodinger, do you remember my report?"

"Uh, yeah. The big bad wolf ran over to the bunker and destroyed the experiments. Then Red Riding Hood kissed your neck, and your blood drained into a ghoul. Ooh, did I get it right?!"

_No, you imbecile! How can anyone be that stupid! Why the heck does the major put his trust in you? _Rip sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No. That's not right."

Schrodinger looked momentarily disappointed, but then he perked up. "Well, tell me again. I'm sure I'll remember it this time."

_I highly doubt it. _"No, I think it would be better if I wrote the report out, like I normally do."

Schrodinger chuckled. "Suits me just fine. I'll wait."

"Oh, darn."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't have a pen or a piece of paper."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll get them for you. Be back in a fl…"

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Wouldn't it be just as easy to get my cell's key from the sleeping guard outside?"

Schrodinger thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Well why don't you just do that? Then I can get out of this cell and get the pen and paper myself."

"Well, it seems like a lot more work for you. Are you sure you don't want me to just bring you a pen and piece of paper?"

Rip tried her hardest and was just barely able to keep her temper restrained. "No, I need the exorcise anyway."

Schrodinger shrugged. "Okay then." He disappeared and almost instantly returned with the key. He handed it to Rip.

**That's Just Dandy**

Alucard stood outside of what Rip claimed was the beta research sight, the sight were the successful experiments were sent for further testing. It looked like a simple, but large, office building in the poorer section of the city. Alucard double checked the address. Integra would be furious if he went into the wrong building and just started blasting away. The address on the paper matched the one on the side of the building. _Time to have some fun_. Alucard pulled out his Jackal and shadow shifted inside.

Alucard was alone on this mission. After the incident with the 'hoppers', what Fletcher chose to name the new ghoul vampire/hybrids, Integra didn't want to send any of her human soldiers into the beta site. Alucard didn't really care about the lack of human support. _A few of them, like Walter the Reaper, can be useful; but most just get in the way._ He was a little upset about his fledgling, though. She's my fledgling! _She should be by my side, not consoling some Halfling she found in a church_. But there wasn't much that the No-Life King could do about it.

Because Jason's blood offered a cure for infected ghouls, Integra had decided that the boy was an important asset. She was willing to spare Seras a few missions if it meant keeping the kid from having a breakdown. Besides, It wasn't like Integra believed that her servant needed help dealing with a pesky research lab. And, for the most part, she was right.

Alucard was not having any problem blasting his way through the hoppers. In fact, despite Seras's absence, he was rather enjoying himself. They weren't anything special, not even up to the standard of a 'faker', but their shear numbers were providing some mild entertainment. And they jumped around so much that shooting them was a little like playing Whack-a-Mole, not that Alucard had ever played the game of course.

Alucard was just walking through the building, clearing out the rooms. He didn't worry about gathering any intel. Once the building was thoroughly cleansed, Integra could send her techs in to take care of that.

Blasting away the hoppers was just starting to get tedious when Alucard opened a door to find what looked like a normal man sitting in a chair. The 'man's' human appearance didn't fool Alucard for a minute. He sensed that the 'man' was a vampire the instant he saw him.

The 'man' said, "Finally, I've been waiting for you." He stood up. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Tubalcain Alhambra, although some just call me the Dandy Man."

"Ahuh, well, I hope you prove more interesting than your pets." Alucard flipped his arm over his shoulder and shot a hopper that was attempting to sneak up behind him. Alucard made a feral grin. "I'm starting to get board."

The Dandy Man smiled back. "Oh I assure you, I am far more capable than them." The man flicked his wrist and produced an ace of spades. "Before we begin, may I compliment you on your hat. It's rather dashing. I look forward to claiming it from your corpse." With that the Dandy Man flung the card into Alucard's arm.

The card embedded itself a quarter of the way. A small amount of blood trickled from the wound. Alucard just chuckled. "If you want my hat or my corpse, you're going to have to do a lot better than that."

the Dandy Man smiled again and the card exploded, leaving Alucard with a stump where his arm use to be. Alucard laughed, deeply. "Much better!" He flicked his damaged arm. It reformed and healed itself. "You may provide some fun after all, but now it's my turn." Alucard brought up his Jackal while the Dandy man flicked his wrist again, producing more cards.

**Sabotage**

Rip had knocked the sleeping guard upside his head. Then she dragged him into the cell, stole his uniform and gun and then locked him in. In order to get Schrodinger to stop bugging her, the Lieutenant also grabbed the shift change log off of a nearby wall and hastily scribbled down a report for the Major. In addition to the report, Rip also included a warning to expect an attack on the beta site. She did not in form the Major that she was the one who gave up the site's location. _No reason he has to know everything. _Now she was just trying to escape. She was doing pretty well too.

Rip had already gotten out of the dungeon, navigated the upper levels and imitated a Cockney accent to talk her way past a couple of patrols. She was now, slowly walking through the grounds behind the mansion. Her plan was to find a section of the perimeter wall that was fairly well concealed by plant growth. She'd then scale the wall and make her escape. Everything was going fine until she heard that annoyingly peppy voice again. "Rip, you-who, Rip."

Rip quickly dived into a nearby bush. She grabbed Schrodinger's tale and pulled him in with her. She placed a hand over the cat boy's mouth and hissed, "Quiet, you're going to blow my cover."

Schrodinger's face twisted into a confused expression. Rip rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm going to take my hand away. Tell me what you want, but do it quietly. We're playing hide and go seek." Rip offered up that explanation because she knew that Schrodinger's five year old mind would never grasp what was really going on. _Sometimes I wonder if he even knows we're fighting a war._

Rip drew her hand back from Schrodinger's mouth. "I delivered your report. The major told me to give you this." Schrodinger held out a hand that contained a small flash drive and a note. Rip took them both. Schrodinger continued, "He said you should make a computer throw up."

Rip was grateful that the Major had the foresight to send along written orders. It meant that she wouldn't have to waste a half hour trying to get the proper instruction from Schrodinger. The Lieutenant read her note. "Lieutenant van Winkle: Fate has conspired to give us a glorious opportunity by placing you within the very heart of our enemy. I have sent Schrodinger to deliver a computer virus to you. It's contained within the flash drive. Insert it into any computer system that is part of the Hellsing network, and their security will be crippled. Although you failed your last mission, I now see, it was the work of providence that caused you to fail. You now have the opportunity to redeem yourself by dealing a critical blow to our enemy." The note continued with the usual dogma about the glory of the Nazi's promised thousand year reign and the importance of every soldier being willing to sacrifice him\herself for the greater good.

Rip crumpled the note up and stuck it in her pocket. She stared at the flash drive. _So close, I was so close. _Rip turned to Schrodinger. "Okay, I got the message. Now go back and tell the Major that you completed your mission. I'm sure he's got a bowl of milk waiting for you."

"Ooh, and maybe some catnip too! I love ca…"

The rest of Schrodinger's statement was muffled by Rip placing her hand back over his mouth. "Quiet. Remember?" Schrodinger nodded then disappeared.

_Just great. Now I've got to walk back through the gates of hell and sabotage their computer system. I was nearly out! _Rip sighed again._ What I won't do for my Millennium brethren._

(Well, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to update on Monday. As I said, I'm out of town and haven't had nearly as much time to write as usual. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter though. The next one should be the first part of the final battle of this story.

I wasn't sure how to write Schrodinger's personality. I'm pretty far from that section of the Manga, and I couldn't find that much information on him. So, I just made him a spaz. I hope he was, at least, entertaining. I apologize to any Schrodinger fans that I may have offended. Although, since Schrodinger's responsible for Alucard's death, I doubt there are too many Schrodinger fans out there. Anyway, please review. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


	12. Chapter 12: Positions

**Positions**

**AN:** I'm sorry. I'd hoped I'd be able to type up about a thousand words then jump right into the battle, but it didn't turn out that way. I ended up with another chapter of buildup. This time from the heroes' side.

Integra was in lab two, listening to Abby going on about the chemical reactions that occurred in Rip when they changed her back to a human. Integra only understood about every third word, but the last three sentences caught her attention. "Anyway now that we know how the transformation works, I've been working on duplicating it with a chemical cocktail. So far, the computer mockups look promising. Here, let me show you." With that, Abby began typing on her keyboard; but just as she started the program, her computer crashed. She rebooted it and tried again, but she couldn't access any programs. Abby wondered what was wrong, then a Nazi insignia began to flash on the screens.

"What's going on? What is that doing on the screens?"

"They must have infected the system with a computer virus."

"How could they do that? I thought you said that our firewall was impenetrable."

"Nothing's impenetrable. Some things just take a very long time to break, but that's not what happened. The system would've warned me if someone was getting close. They must have uploaded the virus from inside the network." Abby turned her head to see Integra rushing out of the lab. "Hey, where are you going?"

Integra stopped and turned back for a moment. "If they crippled our systems they did it for a reason. Our alarms are down, and so are our auto-guns. We're vulnerable. They're going to attack."

Abby was a little surprised by Integra's insight. She hadn't considered that the virus was a prelude to an attack. "Is there anything that I can do?"

"Yes. You can kill the virus, and get our systems back online." Integra left the lab. She went to her office and activated the old emergency alarm system. It wasn't integrated into the computer network so it still worked. However, it was a relic left over from her grandfather's time. It wouldn't do anything but emit a high pitched whining sound; but, at least, it would let her men know something was wrong. They'd quickly gear up and head for the mansion. Once they arrived, Integra could organize them into formations and get ready to repel the Millennium attackers.

Having alerted her men to the danger, Integra walked over to her room's cabinet. She opened it up, revealing a set of Kevlar armor, an ammo box and a belt with a rapier on one side and a pistol on the other. Integra strapped on the armor and attached the belt. She grabbed several clips from the ammo box and shoved all but one of them into compartments in the armor. She removed the pistol from her belt and inserted the remaining clip into it. It was then that Walter ran into the office. "I heard the alarm. What's…" Walter caught sight of Integra. "Sir Integra, what are you doing?"

Integra cocked her pistol. "We're about to be attacked. I'm getting ready to lead the men."

"But, Sir, you can't."

"They're my men, and Millennium is attacking my home. Last time the mansion was attacked I was stuck in the Round Table Conference Room, and our losses were catastrophic. I wont let that happen again."

Walter lowered his head. "I know how you feel, but…"

Integra cut him off. "No you don't! You don't know what it's like to have your men killed and eaten, to lose so many, not in a battle but in a slaughter. I won't let that happen again!"

Walter sighed. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I don't understand, but think about what you're doing. You're the last of the Hellsing line. If you die, the whole organization dies with you, not to mention Alucard. If you die, we lose all control over him. He'll go of the leash, permanently. When you were locked up he killed three members of parliament, and frightened the other knights half to death. He did it in a misguided attempt to serve you, to get your freedom. And it worked; but if you die, there's no telling what he'll do. Call Alucard back. Have him lead the troops, and let me get you to the conference room. It's the safest place."

Integra sighed. She wanted to lead the men herself. She felt like it was her duty as head of the Hellsing organization, but her butler was right. If she died, there was no telling what Alucard might do. She had to put aside her own pride and think about what was best for England. "All right, I'll call him back. Alucard."

Alucard heard his master. He was a little disappointed. He'd been having a lot of fun fighting the Dandy Man. Alucard finally had an enemy with decent regeneration, agility and weapons. He hadn't enjoyed a fight so much since Incognito. _Why does she always pick the worst times to interrupt me? _Still, he couldn't ignore his master's summons. _I just hope it's something important this time. Probably is, I doubt Master would call me back from a mission to have another of our little talks._ With a toothy grin, Alucard turned to the Dandy Man. "I'm afraid that we'll have to finish this another time." With that Alucard began to shadow shift away, but the Dandy Man flicked his wrist and produced three more explosive cards between his fingers.

"You're not going anywhere. I still want that hat." He flung the cards into the disappearing shadow and they exploded, blasting it apart.

Alucard drew his shadows back together and reformed them into his human body. _That actually hurt! _He tightly gripped his Jackal and pulled out his Casull. Alucard began blasting away with both guns, but a twister of titanium playing cards encircled his target, protecting it from the rounds.

Normally, Alucard would've enjoyed the trick, which made killing his prey more difficult. However, these were not normal circumstances. His master was calling for him, and this 'Dandy Man' was preventing him from answering. _It's time to stop playing around. _"Releasing Control Art Restriction Systems to level three, approval of Situation A recognized. Commencing the Cromwell invocation. Ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the enemy has been rendered silent."

Alucard was now at the lowest restriction level he could authorize for himself, under normal circumstances. He could go as low as restriction level two. However, that required an emergency situation, and Alucard was not aware of any emergency. His master being upset at him for making her wait, unfortunately, didn't count as a technical emergency. The final two restriction levels were inaccessible to Alucard under any circumstances. Only his master could authorize those release states.

Dark shadows encompassed the room and Alucard shifted into a large black dog with red glowing eyes. He kept his two arms, now coming out of the right and left sides of the dog, and continued blasting away. As Alucard charged his opponent, he heard his master calling again. _Really, Master, you need to learn a bit of patience. I'll be there as soon as I can._

"ALUCARD!" Integra turned back to her butler. "It's no use, he's not coming."

"Oh dear, I do hope he's all right. If something managed to actually beat him, we're in a lot of trouble."

"Don't worry, Walter. I'm sure he's just playing one of his sick games! He'll pay for it when he finally does return. No one can beat him. He's the ultimate vampire hunter. My ancestors made sure of that."

"I'm sure you're right. I suppose this means that Miss Victoria will be leading the troops?"

"I'm afraid so. I would've liked her to have gotten more experience, but I'll have Fletcher in command. Seras will lead the attack, but Fletcher will help her along and keep everyone organized."

"That sounds like a good plan."

Integra didn't respond to her butler's statement, but she was glad to have his approval. He had a lot more experience than her. Integra went into the briefing room to address her soldiers. _If I can't lead them, at least I can handle the briefing._

When Integra entered the room, her men were all there, but Seras was strangely absent. _Hasn't she heard the alarm? _Integra sent Walter off to find the absent fledgling while she addressed the men.

Walter left the room and headed for the sublevels; but when he reached the staircase, he changed his mind. _Miss Victoria has been spending a great deal of time with the young boy. I think it's more likely she's in the guest room. _

Walter headed up the stairs and went to the guest room. As Walter reached the door he could hear Jason inside. The boy was yelling, "Make it stop! Make it stop!" Walter opened the door to see the boy huddled in a corner. He had his hands firmly clasped over both ears and was rapidly shaking his head back and forth.

Walter also saw Seras standing near the boy. She appeared to be trying to calm him down. Walter asked her, "What's wrong?"

Seras turned and saw that the Hellsing butler had entered the room. "I don't know. He just started flipping out."

"How long has he been doing this?"

"Just a few minutes. I heard the alarm and was about to leave. I told him to wait here while I went and found out what was wrong. I left the room and got halfway down the hall. Then I heard him screaming. So I came back. I don't know what's wrong."

Jason yelled, "It hurts!"

Seras replied, "What hurts?" Jason just let out a scream.

Walter responded, "Well judging by the way he has his hands over his ears, I'd imagine it's the siren."

"But that doesn't make any sense. He was fine when it first…" It was then that Seras remembered what Jason had said about his super-hearing, how it randomly kicked in and out. "How do I shut of the siren?"

"The switch is in Sir Integra's office, underneath her desk."

"Good. Watch over Jason for a minute. I'll be right back."

"Wait! Sir Integra wants…" Walter stopped talking. Seras was out of the room before he finished the word 'wait', and the butler realized that their was no point in continuing.

Luckily, with Seras's vampire speed, she was able to kill the alarm and return in, literally, less than one minute. She reentered the room and saw that Jason was back to normal. He'd stopped 'flipping out' as soon as the siren was shut off. Seras turned to Walter and said, "I guess you were right. Now that that's taken care of, just what's going on. I've never heard of Sir Integra activating that alarm before."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. Sir Integra believes that the mansion is about to be attacked. She wants you to head to the briefing room immediately." The butler sounded a little aggravated.

"What about Jason?"

Walter looked at the boy for a brief moment then turned back to Seras. He drolly replied, "I don't believe that the young boy would be much help in repelling our enemies."

It was Seras's turn to sound a little aggravated. "No, I mean where is Jason going to go. We can't have him running around the mansion in the middle of an attack, and I don't want him to stay in this room. It's too easy to get into."

Walter thought about that for a moment. "Once Sir Integra's done briefing the soldiers, I'm taking her to the conference room. Jason can come with us. It's the safest room in the mansion. I'll be standing guard outside, and Sir Integra will be with him inside. The boy will be the safest person in the mansion."

Seras replied, "Sounds good."

Jason responded, "But I want to go with you. I can help."

Seras thought about that. From what she'd seen and heard, Jason could be useful in a fight, but he was terribly inexperienced and couldn't be relied upon. Seras knew that the boy had a good heart; but if he lost control again, she had no idea what he might do. _Besides, I don't want to put Jason in a situation where he could get hurt or worse._ She bent down, so that she was at eye level with the boy. "No, you go with Walter and Sir Integra."

"But… But what if you get hurt?"

Seras kissed Jason on his forehead. "Don't worry about me. I'm tougher than I look. Remember?" Seras smiled, and Jason smiled back at her. "I'll be back as soon as the fighting's over. Until then, you just behave for Walter and Sir Integra, okay?"

Jason looked over, at the butler. He eyed the old man for a moment, then he turned back to Seras and nodded. "Okay."

(Well, I hope you enjoyed chapter twelve. Please review. Thanks. I'm still out of town, so I probably wont be able to update this coming Monday either. Sorry, but things are taking longer than I'd anticipated. Once again I apologize for not getting to the fight in this chapter; but now that I have everything set up, I should be able to start the main battle at the beginning of the next chapter.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


	13. Chapter 13: Battle, Pt1

**Battle Pt. 1**

**AN:** Yay, I finally got to the battle. There's still a little lead in, but not much. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this. Jason isn't in this chapter, but Seras is. Jason will be in the next one.

**The Calm Before the Storm**

The Hellsing soldiers were positioned thirty yards from the mansion's entrance and seventy from the outer wall's main gate. They were spread out into five groups so that an enemy artillery round couldn't take them all out at once. Although, it was doubtful that Millennium would use artillery rounds.

Fletcher had ordered all guns to be facing the main gate, which would act as a bottle neck. However as far as bottle necks went, it was a poor one. The walls around the gate could be scaled without too much trouble, and any enemy hoppers or vampires could simply leap over them. However, it was the best bottle neck they had. So, the soldiers hunkered down behind their barricades and made use of what was available.

It hadn't taken long to construct the makeshift barricades. The soldiers simply drove a couple dozen Hellsing armored troop transports to the proper positions, and Seras tipped them onto their sides. Now, the Hellsing soldiers were just waiting for the attack to begin. Fletcher wondered why the attack hadn't started yet. Fear was beginning to prey on his unoccupied mind.

Once Fletcher recognized this, he attempted to mentally busy himself by replaying the briefing in his head. In truth, it had been more of a pep rally then an actual briefing. Integra had no idea how many soldiers Millennium could field or what their attack strategy would be, if they were even going to use one. It was more likely that the enemy would simply burst through the gate, like a pack of wild animals, and attack random;y.

Integra knew that an attack was coming, but that was the extent of the Hellsing leader's knowledge. So, the 'briefing' had consisted mainly of a heartfelt speech about how they were God's sword, His weapon to purge the undead from the world of the living; and He would insure their victory over the forces of darkness.

It seemed that Integra really believed what she was preaching. Fletcher envied that. He still believed in God and that the Almighty had some plan. However, as far as Fletcher was concerned, 'The Plan' seemed rather indifferent to foot soldiers. He'd seen too many good, Christian men die what appeared to be meaningless deaths. Fletcher had become too much of a realist to let himself be fooled into believing that they would win simply because they were the 'good guys'.

When Integra went into her speech, Fletcher had simply made himself comfortable in his chair and zoned out. He mentally kicked himself for doing that. A good soldier remains ever vigilant. He'd dropped his guard during the briefing and that had been a mistake. Near the end of the briefing, a strange boy with cat ears and a tail popped in behind Integra. Everyone was shocked. They knew he was one of the enemy. After all, he was dressed in a Hitler Youth uniform. However, everyone was too stunned to do anything. That is, everyone except a young, freckle faced private in the back row.

She reacted immediately and fired a round into the head of the strange 'cat boy'. Just as he started to speak, "Oh, Ri…" his eyes got little crosses in them, and his body fell backwards. It disappeared before it hit the floor. In a moment, after the surprise wore off, everyone congratulated the blue eyed, raven haired private who they were convinced had saved their boss. With a Cockney accent, Private Margaretha Zelle had dismissed their praise and, apparently embarrassed by all the attention, sat back down at the back of the room, her hat pulled down so that the visor covered most of her face.

Schrodinger reappeared inside Millennium headquarters. He scratched his head for a moment. He didn't understand why Rip had shot him. _All I was going to do was tell her how happy she made the Major. Why would she shoot me? _Schrodinger shrugged. _Oh well. If that's the way she's going to be, I just wont congratulate her._ Schrodinger huffed and was then distracted by a cricket hopping on the floor. Schrodinger took off after the 'funny hopping bug', his previous gunshot wound completely forgotten.

**The Storm Begins**

Seras was the first to see the enemy, although she didn't see them so much as sense them. "They're coming."

Fletcher, who was beside her in the center division, asked, "How many?"

Seras tried to concentrate her sixth sense and get an exact number, but she couldn't. The enemy group was simply too large for Seras to be able to focus enough to count them while keeping the entire group in sight. "A lot."

"Could you be more specific?" Fletcher succeeded in keeping his frustration out of his voice. A lot really wasn't much to go on, but Seras wasn't like her master. Fletcher new that she would do everything she could to help and protect the life of each and every soldier. If she was imprecise, it wasn't part of some sick game; but simply something she couldn't help.

Seras did her best to get an accurate estimation. "Six hundred and fifty, maybe seven hundred ghouls. They're all armed. Fifty to sixty hoppers, also armed. And one tattooed she-vamp in the rear, most likely the one in charge."

One of the soldiers on Seras's left exclaimed, "Over seven hundred! Are you sure?" Seras gave the man the same look that his girlfriend did when she was obviously upset at him, and he had the gall to ask why. The man held his hands up in a defensive gesture. "Alright, seven hundred it is." Seras looked somewhat appeased and the man went back to crouching beside his weapon. He grumbled, "Out numbered fifteen to one and our perimeter guns are down, there's no way we survive this."

Seras heard the soldier's grumbling. She did her best to reassure the man. "Ghoul's are dumb as dirt and hoppers aren't much better. Concentrate on the she-vamp. We take her out and the rest'll be a cake walk."

Fletcher replied, "She's in the back. I doubt she'll make herself a target."

"Normally, I'd agree; but if she's a vampire, she won't be able to stay back for long. Sooner or later, her bloodlust will seize her and she'll join the fray." Fletcher gave Seras a doubtful look. She responded, "Trust me. I know a thing or two about vampires."

Fletcher turned back towards the gate. "I hope you're right."

_Yeah, me too. _

The ghouls were just coming into the view of the human soldiers. Fletcher activated his walkie talkie. "All right, men, hold your fire until they reach the gate. Then unleash hell!"

None of the soldiers keyed in their walkie talkies, but the simultaneous shout of "Hoorah!" that they all let out could be heard anyway.

The ghouls reached the gate's of hell, and a hail of blessed silver bullets greeted them. The ghouls where instantly turned to dust, but more came. The same fate awaited them; and for awhile, it looked as if the Hellsing soldiers would hold their enemy at the gate. However, ammo clips ran out and barrels over heated. The Hellsing soldiers couldn't keep up their rate of fire forever; and as it slowed, the ghouls advanced.

They fired randomly into the Hellsing divisions. Their shots clanked off of the armor plated vehicles and ricocheted in various directions. The ghouls were terrible aims, and the Hellsing soldiers had decent cover. Still, a few lucky shots managed to find fresh flesh to dig into.

Men grunted and blood spurt into the air. Seras could smell it. She felt her own fangs and tongue grow and doubted it would be long before the other vampire could no longer help herself. Until then, Seras would busy herself with sniping the hoppers who were leaping over the wall and advancing on the Hellsing divisions. The Draculina was the only Hellsing soldier who possessed the speed and accuracy necessary to target the hybrid creatures' heads and hearts. Although, a few were torn apart by concentrated, automatic weapons' fire.

Seras heard Fletcher tell his men to direct their fire back at the gate. It was being overrun, and the ghouls were gaining a nasty foothold. Seras put down her BAERLKS rifle and slung her Harkonnen off of her back. She took aim and fired an incendiary shell into the center of the gate opening. The round exploded as it impacted one of the ghoul bodies and drenched the area in a sea of napalm, instantly dissolving away the ghouls' bodies.

A devious smirk spread across Seras's face as she observed the destruction she'd caused. She reloaded her Harkonnen with a shell from the ammo box at her side and fired into another group of ghouls. Her smile grew wider as this group melted away. She reloaded her Harkonnen again.

Seras should have gone back to sniping the hoppers with her BAERLKS. After clearing the gate area, the other soldiers could of handled the groups of ghouls. Seras would've been more useful taking down the enemies that were too fast for the others. However, the Draculina was in the initial stage of bloodlust; and she could bring about more death with the Harkonnen than the BAERLKS.

Seras fired off five more rounds with her Harkonnen, then she ran out of ammo for it. Seras let the weapon drop unceremoniously to the ground and inhaled deeply. She breathed in the sent of battle, the blood, the sweat, the fear and the death. For the briefest of moments, she just let it wash over her. The red that was normally confined to Seras's iris expanded until it completely filled her eyes. Seras grabbed one of the mini-guns and ripped it from its perch. With a great bound she leapt over the armored vehicles and into the midst of the enemy. Fletcher yelled at her to come back; but once he caught sight of her eyes, he knew it was no use.

Seras had entered full-blown bloodlust. She was no longer a part of the Hellsing units. She was now a wildcard, admittedly one that would only work to their benefit. Fletcher knew that no matter how far Seras went, she wouldn't harm him or his men. However she would no longer follow his orders or work with the other soldiers. Her master could've still ordered her around and possibly, by extension, his master, but Fletcher mine as well have been speaking to the wind.

Seras was not the only one who could no longer help herself. The enemy vamp made her appearance as well. Fletcher was just about to order his men to concentrate their fire on her when something impossible happened. The enemy vamp grew from six feet to over a hundred. Fletcher knew that it was impossible. The cube squared law and cross-sectional strength verses volume/weight prevented any creature from growing that much. The enemy's body should of collapsed in on itself, but somehow it didn't. Somehow the impossible was happening!

Fletcher grabbed Seras's discarded BAERLKS and shot into the enemy's, now giant, head. He fired off three rounds, but it did no good. The enemy didn't even seem to notice the shots. Fletcher aimed at her chest and emptied the rest of the clip, still nothing. It was then that Fletcher grabbed his walkie talkie and ordered everyone to fall back to the mansion. They couldn't stay where they were. As soon as that behemoth reached them, it would tear through the barricade in less than a second or simply step over it and crunch the Hellsing soldiers under its heel. The mansion would, at least, offer some protection; although Fletcher seriously doubted it would be enough.

Lieutenant van Winkle, AKA Private Zelle, heard the order to fall back. Her group, division Gamma, was headed back to the mansion. But as soon as they left their barricade, they were set upon by four hoppers. They tried to shoot the things, but it was no use. The hoppers were just too fast. They jumped around until the soldiers needed to reload then pounced on them. One pinned Rip to the ground and looked down at her, hungrily.

_I don't believe this! I survive the assault on the Alpha site, becoming a ghoul, being a Hellsing prisoner, escaping the mansion, reentering the mansion to plant a computer virus, a stupid briefing where that idiotic Schrodinger nearly blows my cover and, so far, the battle against my own organization; only to be destroyed by a creature I helped create! I'm as big a fan of irony as the next girl, but this is ridiculous! If only those stupid soldiers hadn't practically dragged be to that briefing or the Major hadn't ordered me to go back and plant that virus! _Drool from the hopper's mouth leaked onto Rip's face_. NO! I won't die like this! I won't! _It was then, in that moment of extreme emotional distress, that Rip tapped into something deep inside her. It went far beyond the adrenaline rush normally produced under such circumstances. The center of her pupil emitted a pinprick of red light. No, it wasn't normal. It wasn't human. It was a small reserve left behind when Jason's blood turned her back from a ghoul, a tiny amount of his energy that still lingered in her body.

Suddenly the hopper holding her arm wasn't so strong. Indeed, it was almost weak. Rip slipped her arm out from under it and punched the creature in its head. It fell to the side, and Rip noticed something else. It was slow. Everything was slow. The whole world seemed to be moving in slow-motion, everything except her. She rolled, reloaded her automatic rifle and took aim at one of the other three hoppers. It tried to leap out of the way, but she pulled the trigger before it had the chance. The hopper dissolved into a pile of dust. Rip was amazed. It should have looked instantaneous, but it didn't. She saw the dust seeping out of the wound in its heart, saw it slowly spread from there to the rest of its body. She tilted her head to the side and watched in a morbid curiosity, then she killed the other two hoppers just as easily. Rip didn't even consider the fact that she was saving the rest of division Gamma. She was simply killing the things that were trying to kill her.

After shooting three of the hoppers, Rip turned back to the first. Half of its skull was caved in from the force of her blow, but it was still alive. Rip fired a final round into its skull just as the world began to speed back up.

The world returned to normal, and Rip fell to the ground. She screwed her eyes shut and held her head. For a moment she thought it might actually explode. She had exhausted the last trace of Jason's energy and was now feeling the after effect of her return to normalcy. Rip opened her eyes to see another member of Gamma holding his arm out to her. Through the haze that clouded her mind, she heard him shout. "Come on! We've got to go!"

Rip grabbed the corporal's hand, pulled herself up and followed the rest of Gamma to the mansion. Rip realized that, in a turn of events that defied logic, she would be forced to continue helping her enemy defend against her own organization. _Why does everything happen to me?_

Fletcher watched as Gamma division entered the mansion. _That's the last of them. The only ones left out there now are the enemy, the dead and Seras. _Fletcher cast a stare at the blood crazed vampire. Seras's ammo was long gone; but rather than casting the mini-gun aside, she was using it as a metal club. Despite all reasoning, she was still advancing on the hundred foot tall, enemy vampire. Fletcher shook his head. He knew that vampires went a little crazy during bloodlust, but he never thought it could get that bad. He felt horrible for abandoning Seras out there, but he didn't see any choice. She wouldn't obey his order to fall back, and he couldn't keep the rest of the soldiers out in the open. _They'd have been killed in no time._ _At least the mansion provides some minimum protection._

Seras would've had no idea why the other soldiers ran, if she had even noticed; which she didn't. She was in full-blown blood lust mode, and they were beneath her concern. The only thing she cared about right then was killing more of the enemy, and she was closing in on their leader.

Seras didn't see a hundred foot tall vampire in front of her. She had long passed the point of seeing with human eyes, and was now relying completely on her vampire senses. She saw right through the illusion that scared off the other soldiers and continued to advance on her target.

(Well, sorry about doing a cliffy. This battle is just too long for me to fit it all into one chapter. I'm back home now. So, hopefully I'll be able to post the second half sometime on Friday, and you wont have to wait a whole week. Once again, sorry. But please review. Let me know what you think of the battle so far. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


	14. Chapter 14: Battle, Pt2

**Battle Pt. 2**

**AN:** Okay, here's the other half of the battle. I hope you enjoy it. It took quite awhile to write.

PS. There's a little bonus at the end. I didn't see anywhere else that it fit in well.

**The Storm Rages**

Ghouls continued to swarm around and charge Seras, but the Draculina paid them little attention. She swung her mini-gun, turned club, in wide arcs, decapitating some and leaving others sprawled out on the ground. She left the injured ones and continued towards her target. The ghouls were no longer important. Seras had found a bigger fish to fry, the enemy vampire. She would provide some challenge, some sport, before she met her end.

When Seras finally reached her target, she threw the mini-gun aside, impaling a ghoul in the process. Seras leapt at her enemy with a flying kick to the head. The other vamp fell back from the force of the blow. Seras ran over to her, but the other vamp swooped her leg around, tripping Seras. The other vamp stood, and Seras fell. She thrust her arm out, before her fall was complete, and struck the ground with her hand. She pushed off with her vampire strength and was back on her feet before the other vamp had a chance to press her advantage.

The other vamp threw a right cross. Seras ducked under the blow and struck at her enemy's gut. The blow caused the enemy vampire to cough up blood. A predatory smile spread across Seras's face. She'd drawn first blood. A hopper leapt at Seras from the side. Without even looking away from the enemy vamp, Seras reached out her arm and grasped the hoppers neck while it was still in mid air. She squeezed, crushing its neck within her fist and leaving it's head to flop to the side. Seras threw the week thing away, but the momentary distraction gave her enemy time to recover.

The other vampire jumped back, put her head down and charged at Seras. Seras was temporarily stunned from the enemy's head driving into her stomach. It was Seras's turn to cough up blood. "An eye for an eye." Her enemy growled as she pushed against Seras's sides, sending her flying into a nearby mob of ghouls.

The enemy vampire wasn't fighting fair. She used her mental connection to the ghouls and ordered them to redirect their attacks against Seras. Five were on her before she even had a chance to get up. Seras twisted out from under them and rose to her feet. She took up a kick boxer's stance and defended herself against the mob. The ghouls swarmed her, but quickly fell beneath her flurry of kicks, jabs and crosses.

The ghouls were not a threat. They did, however, have sufficient numbers to be an effective distraction. The enemy vamp was able to slip behind Seras and sink her fangs into the Draculina's neck.

The enemy vamp's illusion faded away while she reveled in the taste of Seras's, still virgin, blood; but that wouldn't matter. There were more than enough ghouls, between them and the mansion, to keep the soldiers back until she was finished her meal; if, indeed, the soldiers even decided to try to help out their comrade.

Seras felt her strength draining away. She went down to one knee, and her mind instinctively reached out to her Master for help. _Master?_

**Splitting Apart**

Alucard was still battling the Dandy Man. The battle was taking longer than any fight since the one with Incognito, and his master had stopped calling for him long ago. Alucard figured that whatever problem she had, she must have found a way to solve it with out him. Although Alucard was sure that he would be in deep trouble when he returned to the mansion, he was pleased that he could go back to enjoying his fight. And enjoying it he was. Alucard certainly had the advantage now that he was down to restriction level three, but the Dandy Man was still proving a challenge to put down. This was do to the fact that the Dandy man actually possessed enough speed to keep out of range of Alucard's powerful jaws, and the common sense to do so.

Alucard felt a little like a hound chasing a rabbit as he bound around the room chasing after the card wielding Millennium member. Alucard's fun was interrupted when he heard a cry echo in his head**, **_Master?_

Alucard heard his fledgling's plea. He could sense her life force slipping away. Suddenly the game of 'chase the Dandy Man' didn't seem so important. Alucard stopped and attempted to shadow shift away again.

Once again, the Dandy Man was too stupid to just let the elder vampire go. He sent more explosive cards into the shadow, again blowing Alucard apart. With a growl that would've made any normal, sane man quake in his boots, Alucard again reassembled himself. The playful amusement was gone from his mind. He could feel his fledgling dieing, and this pathetic peace of shit was keeping him from going to her. This was not like when his master had called. She was in perfect health. Indeed, other than a substantial amount of stress, which was par for his master, Alucard could sense that she was still in perfect health. However, his fledgling was dieing.

"Releasing Control Art Restriction Systems to level two, Emergency situation approval recognized. Commencing the Cromwell invocation. Ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the enemy has been rendered silent."

The Dandy Man saw the big black dog shift into a number of big black bats, which began to fly through the wall. The Dandy Man flicked his wrist and was about to toss more explosive cards at the fleeing bats. However, there was the sound of a gunshot, and the Dandy Man felt a ripping pain in his knee. He turned to see a pale looking girl holding a gun at his face. The hat was different, but the Dandy Man recognized the gloves. It seemed that only part of his enemy was fleeing.

As the Dandy Man redirected his attention at the new 'Girly-Card', The black bats flew back towards the mansion. They flew with supernatural speed, but Alucard wasn't sure they were moving fast enough. In an act of uncharacteristic kindness, Alucard called his fledgling by her name. _Hold on Seras. Hold on just a bit longer. I'm on my way._

Seras heard her master's thoughts. She was shocked. Not only had he called her by name, but the tone of his thoughts felt almost… vulnerable. She couldn't fight back. Her arms and legs were pinned and she didn't have the strength to free them. Every moment, she could feel herself becoming weaker and the other vampire becoming stronger. Still, Seras was a fighter. She was not about to give up, especially when help was on its way. One of the ghouls had strayed a little too close to her mouth, and Seras used the opportunity to sink her fangs into it's neck. Ghoul blood was the most disgusting, least nutritious blood in existence. Even animal blood was preferable; but, at least, it would help her hold on for a few more seconds.

**Revelation**

Jason was sitting in the Round Table Conference Room. He'd just finished coloring in a picture of himself strangling the red eyed creature. He flipped to the next page of his pad and looked at Integra. Her heart was beating rapidly. It was obvious that she was stressed. She took a long drag from her cigar, and her heartbeat slowed slightly. Integra looked up at the ceiling as she exhaled, and Jason discovered that he preferred the smell of Integra's cigar smoke over that of his mother's cigarettes.

Integra was still looking up. Jason looked back to his pad. His hand moved faster than could be seen by human eyes; and in less then a second, he had a new drawing to color in. It was then that Jason heard something that snapped his attention away from the room he was in.

He heard Seras whimper. It was unmistakably her. Jason's hearing could detect frequencies beyond the human range. This allowed him to identify any voice after hearing it once, assuming that his super-hearing happened to be active.

Jason attempted to focus on the sound and find out what was wrong with Seras. It wasn't easy. Jason had trouble controlling his super-hearing. In fact, he'd only heard her whimpering by accident. He'd been picking up stray sounds from the battle since it began. Jason managed to focus in on Seras. He still wasn't sure what was happening to her, but he heard her heartbeat slowing to a dangerous level. She was dieing.

A familiar red glow spread through Jason's eyes. Once again they were burning. Seras had been like a big sister, possibly even a second mother, to him since she'd found him in the church. He'd even told her things that he wouldn't have told his real mother; and as he heard her struggling to stay alive, something in him snapped. Rage filled his mind, and he rushed to her.

Suddenly a great wind ripped through the conference room. The drawing pad went flying and Integra's hair flew in her face. As suddenly as the wind came it vanished. Integra pulled enough hair out of her face so that she could see. Jason was gone. The door to the Round Table Conference Room had been thrown open, and Jason's writing pad was lying on the floor. Integra was about to call for Walter when something about the pad caught her attention. She picked it up and looked at the last page Jason had drawn. Jason's eyes were red. A spit curl of hair hung in front of his forehead, and red serpent, in the shape of an S, was across his chest. Suddenly Integra knew who Jason's father was, but her mind would not accept the revelation. _I've had Superman's son in my house for the last few days? Impossible. Simply Impossible._

Jason ran through the mansion and jumped out of a window. He couldn't fly, so his body fell to the ground. He stopped for a moment as he surveyed the battlefield. It was horrible and brought back flashes of the infected town. Jason could still hear Seras's heart. It had nearly stopped. He sped up his body and mind so that the world around him slowed to a crawl.

He followed Seras's heartbeat, tearing through the ghouls in between her and him. There must have been at least eighty of them, but it didn't matter. They were slow, weak, worthless. Jason tore off their limbs, broke their spines and ripped off their heads without even slowing down. The hoppers were a little worse, but not much. They were fast, but he was much faster. They could leap to incredible heights, but he could leap higher. They were strong, but he was stronger. Any that got in his way, fell before him.

Jason was nearly to Seras now. She recognized the creature headed toward her, although it was just as blurry as her vision indicated. Seras felt concerned, not so much for her own safety. Although, she wasn't positive that he wouldn't hurt her. It was obvious, from the glow in Jason's eyes, that he'd lost control again; but what Seras was really concerned for was the boy's safety.

Jason was having no trouble with the ghouls and hoppers, but behind Seras was a vampire, a real vampire, not one of the 'fakers'. What was even worse was that the vampire had just been feeding, and on the blood of another vampire. Seras had no doubt that her master could handle the situation without a problem, but she wasn't so sure if Jason could.

The enemy vampire saw Jason coming. Of course, she had no idea what he was. The speed, the glowing red eyes and the ease with which he ripped through her army surprised her; and, for a moment, she actually stopped drinking.

Jason was to them now. He landed a punch in the enemy vampire's face, and she went flying back. "Get your fangs out of her!"

The enemy vamp's face was bleeding from were she'd been hit. She used her fist to wipe the blood away, then brought it up to her mouth and licked it up. "You want to play? All right. Let's play!" Suddenly, their was not one enemy she-vamp, but a dozen. They gathered around Jason, who was attempting to get Seras to her feet. They pounced on Jason. He tried to fight them off, but he wasn't having much luck. He couldn't tell which one was real, and his punches and kicks collided with empty air. The enemy had no such trouble. She landed every strike, and Jason was reeling from the assault.

Seras knew what was happening. Jason couldn't see past the enemy's illusions. Seras reached out and touched his mind.

Jason heard Seras's voice in his head. _Let me help. Let me see for you. Close your eyes and see through mine_. Jason's mind sped up in an instinctive attempt to keep out the intrusion. Seras felt her own mind swarm with thoughts, images and memories. They came in like a flood, and it was too fast for her to handle. She blocked what she could and tried to calm Jason. _Relax. Don't pull back. You trust me, don't you?_

_Yes_. Jason did his best to follow Seras's instructions. He closed his eyes and tried to relax his mind. He stopped resisting and let her in. None of this was easy, for the enemy vampire was giving him quite a beating. However, soon Jason could see without his eyes. It was strange, he wasn't even seeing in first person anymore, but rather he had an overhead view of Seras, himself and the enemy vampire. Suddenly the illusions were gone, and Jason was able to fight back.

Seeing himself from overhead took a little getting use to; but, having played more than a few video games with a similar POV, Jason was quick to adapt. He began to dodge the enemy's strikes and connect with his own. The enemy vampire was driven back. Without her illusions, she was no match for Jason. Even with being half human and only ten years old, Jason was faster, stronger and possessed more endurance.

Still, the enemy was not beaten yet. She telepathically reached out to more of the ghouls and redirected them. Not at Jason; she'd seen how easily he could handle ghouls, but at Seras. At full strength, the ghouls wouldn't have been a challenge for Seras either, but the enemy vampire knew that Seras was far from full strength. She'd sucked down most of the Draculina's blood, and Seras was barely holding on.

More ghouls began to swarm Seras, and Jason rushed to her. He was easily fighting off the ghouls, but the enemy vampire used this to her advantage. She slipped behind Jason, just as she'd done to Seras. However, Seras was the one controlling Jason's sight, and she guessed the other Vampire's move. _Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me_. Seras focused in on the enemy vamp, and Jason ducked under her punch, grabbed her arm and flung her away.

**Of Heroes and Monsters**

Jason began to press his advantage, but turned back as a ghoul bit into Seras's leg. He ran over and ripped its head off. _What am I suppose to do? I can't fight her and take care of the ghouls. I can't be in two places at once._

Seras felt her master's presence. He'd finally arrived. _Don't worry, you won't have to._

The flock of black bats gathered around Seras and pulled themselves back into the black hound. It dropped to the ground beside her. Seras's master could sense another presence in her mind. _Who is that, Police Girl?_

_It's Jason. I'm acting as his eyes. The enemy is some master of illusion._

_And can your pet defeat her?_

_I believe so. Jason's only been having a problem because he has to keep coming over and fighting off the ghouls that attack me._

_Is that so?_ Jason felt another voice in his head. It was getting rather crowded. _Do not worry about Police Girl. I'll protect her. You concentrate on the enemy. Kill her. Revel in the moment when life meets death!_

_And just who are you?_

_I am Seras's master. I will protect her._

Jason opened his eyes for a moment and looked over at Seras. He saw the big black dog, which somehow he knew was the new voice in his head. It was tearing through the ghouls just as easily as he had been, although it did seem to be getting more enjoyment from the slaughter. Jason wasn't sure where the dog had come from, or what it was, but it seemed to be on top of things. So he closed his eyes again and directed his full attention to the enemy vampire.

While Jason was battling the enemy vampire, Seras's master was tearing open the throats of the ghouls foolish enough to still be coming after his fledgling. He even ensured that a large portion of the blood splatter landed in Seras's face. _I know it doesn't taste very good, but drink up, Police Girl. Drink up and regain your strength._

_Yes, Master. _Seras did as instructed. The blood did taste awful, but there was no denying that it made her feel better. She began to feel a buzz as her Master continued to drench her in even more of the enemies' blood. Seras could feel her strength returning, but she lost focus as she gave into the pleasurable sensation.

When Seras lost her focus, Jason lost his sight. He staggered for a moment; and before he even opened his own eyes, the enemy vampire had her fangs in his neck. She drank is blood. It was delicious. It was exotic, sweet and spicy. It burned her throat a little on the way down, but not enough to cause her to stop drinking. She could feel her strength and speed increasing by leaps and bounds. She still had no idea what Jason was, but his blood was the best thing she'd ever tasted. She sucked it down as fast as she could; but after a couple of seconds, she knew something was wrong.

Her stomach was burning. It started out no worse then her throat, but the burning sensation grew and spread. She pulled her fangs out of Jason's neck, pushed him forward and fell back. She spit out what blood was left in her mouth; the burning sensation was everywhere now. It wouldn't stop. She felt like her whole body was being consumed by fire.

Jason stood back up and walked over to the enemy vampire. He looked down at her and emitted a dark chuckle. "Did you really think you could just drink my blood? For ten years, I have walked upon this world. For ten years, I have bathed in the light of its sun. Its power permeates ever cell of my being. You stupid, stupid vampire. You've just drunk from the sun!"

The enemy vampire realized too late that the boy was right. She could feel it, feel her body turning to dust. It actually happened rather quickly, but to her it felt like forever. Her intestines turned to dust first, then her stomach melted away; and it continued to spread. From her stomach, the dust spread until it consumed her entire body. She screamed as her head melted away, and its dust was carried by the breeze.

**Battle's end**

Abby had finally isolated the virus and was just in the process of deleting it. "Take that you little bugger!" She flipped the master switch, and the whole network, every single Hellsing computer, turned off. Abby rebooted the system and activated the perimeter auto-guns. She saw the auto-guns begin firing their high caliber, blessed silver rounds into the mass of ghouls already within the courtyard. _Yes, I did it. Mess with the best? Die like the rest! _As if in celebration, Abby's audio system chose that moment to reactivate and play her favorite Android Lust song.

Out in the courtyard, Jason heard a whirling metallic sound. He looked over and saw the mini-guns that lined the perimeter wall activate. They sighted in on the mass of ghouls around Seras and the big black dog. Jason ran over, scooped up his two allies, one in each arm, and jumped as high as he could. The trio rose three hundred and fifty feet in the air and lingered for a moment. The ghouls and few remaining hoppers beneath them were ripped apart and turned to dust by the perimeter auto-guns. As the trio began to fall back to earth, the barrels slowed and the fire ceased. The trio landed and the breeze swirled the enemies' dust around them, like a small twister.

Inside the mansion, the soldiers were cheering. They couldn't believe it. They'd actually survived. There was the usual hullabaloo that surrounded such an occasion. Some soldiers screamed out their excitement, others threw their hats, a few shouted curses at the fallen enemy and several held their hands out for high fives. Fletcher was part of the later group. Half to keep up appearances and half because she really was amazed that she'd live another day, Rip high fived the Sergeant. _Now If I can just get out of here before anyone figures out that I'm an impostor._

(Well, what did you think of the rest of the battle? I know, this was a long chapter. I probably could've dragged the fight out for another chapter, but I really didn't want to do another cliffy. I hate those, don't you? Anyway, please review. Thanks. There should be one chapter left to this story.

PS. I also threw some more hints at Alucard\Seras in here. They're a little bit more subtle than my last one, but Alucard chose to watch over Seras instead of killing Zorin. There by indicating that he'd rather be with Seras than revel in the killing of another vampire. I'd imagine that would be a pretty big step for Alucard. Also I had him show genuine concern and drop his guard a bit when she was dieing. I'm curious if anyone noticed these things. Please let me know what you thought. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)

About an hour after the fight for the Hellsing Manor ended, a pale faced girl rang the door bell. Walter opened the front door to find a face that he hadn't seen in nearly sixty years. It looked the same, of course. Vampires didn't age. The only real difference was the hat. The pale girl was wearing a white, wide-brimmed fedora hat.

"I've been waiting for you since Baskervill returned to the mansion. Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Yes, I had a grand old time. Do you like my knew hat?"

Walter was quiet for a moment. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to the question. "It's... different but fitting, I guess."

"Thank you." The pale girl walked inside.

"You know, Sir Integra, is quite upset with you."

"What else is new?"

Walter ignored the, obviously rhetorical, question and continued. "You failed to answer her summons. If I may ask, just what were you doing for so long?"

"Why, getting my knew hat, of course." The big black dog bound into the room. The pale girl clapped her hands together. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" The dog wagged its tail, let out a happy bark and charged at the pale girl. They collided into a mess of shadows which pulled themselves into Alucard's regular form. He was back in his normal clothing, the white fedora in his left hand. "Tell my master that I'll be up to see her in a minute." With that, Alucard sunk through the floor, went to his cell and hung his new hat on one of the walls. It would serve as a nice troughy to remind him of the battle. Of course, it wasn't the only troughy, Alucard rubbed his belly for a moment. He had a new familiar, as well.


	15. Chapter 15: Parting Ways

**Parting Ways**

Seras was walking to Jason's room. She'd made a decision. As much as it pained her to admit, he couldn't stay. Now that Integra knew what he was capable of, She'd use him.

Seras didn't really blame her boss. In war, it made sense to use whatever was available. It saved more lives in the long run, but Seras knew what it was like to be a living weapon. She didn't want that life for Jason. She didn't even want it for herself, but it was too late for her. She'd made her choice back in Cheddar. There was no going back for her. _But that's just it. At least I had a choice. A Hobson's choice, sure; but a choice, nevertheless. If Jason stays, he'll have no choice. This place will turn him into a monster. It might be different if he were older, if his value system was firmly established; but that's not the case. He's young and still very impressionable, too impressionable. I've got to get him out of here, back to his family._

Seras had been able to replay some of the memories Jason had flooded her mind with. She'd been able to slow them down, and she now knew what Jason was. He was the son of the world's greatest hero. She didn't want him to live a life of darkness. It wasn't right. _He should become a hero. I know that he has doubts about that; but, at the least, he should have a chance for a normal life._

Seras reached Jason's door and stopped. She turned around and started to walk away. _No, you've got to go in there. You may want him to stay, but you've got to keep in mind what's best for him. If you don't, you're just being selfish. When you care for someone, you have to place their needs above your own. _Seras turned back to the door. She knocked.

It took a minute, but Jason's voice came from the other side. "Who's there?"

"It's… It's Seras. May I come in?"

There was another moment of hesitation followed by, "Sure."

Seras took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She opened the door and walked inside.

Jason was sitting in front of the window. The first lights of dawn were just starting to show. At first Seras thought the boy was just waiting to recharge himself; but then she noticed he was looking down to the ground, not up to the sky. Seras walked over to Jason and saw that he was staring at the court yard. She stopped and looked the boy over. His legs were crossed and his pad of paper rested in his lap. It was closed with the boxes of colored pencils and magic markers lying on top.

Jason asked, "What's up?" His eyes were still fixed on the window.

"Jason, we need… We need to talk about your parents."

For the first time since Seras entered the room, Jason's gaze shifted to her. "What about them?"

"I think…" Seras started and stopped. Seras started again, "I think… You need to go back to them."

"You don't want me here, anymore?" Jason stared at Seras, a hurt expression on his face.

Seras couldn't take that look. She quickly pulled Jason into a tight hug. "Of course I want you here. But…" Seras paused. _How In the world am I going to explain this to him?_ Seras sighed. _Honesty. That's what we have. That's what he needs. _"If you stay, they'll change you. You'll become a weapon, a tool in their war. If you stay, you'll end up spending the rest of your life in darkness, fighting vampires and ghouls. You can't let that happen. You were not born to be a creature of the night. You... You have to go home."

"I can't go home."

Seras pulled back and looked into Jason's face. As far as the memories told her his family loved him; they loved him a lot. She hadn't seen anything that would've made Jason feel like he wouldn't be welcomed back. "Why can't you go home?"

"I'm too dangerous." Jason looked out the window again. "I lose control." Then Seras understood why he'd been staring at the courtyard. He'd been replaying the battle in his head, remembering everything he'd done. "I just can't go home."

"You're worried that you'll hurt someone you care about?" The question was more a thought that slipped out than anything else, but Seras saw Jason nod in response. Seras added an authoritative edge to her voice. "Now you listen here. That is completely ridiculous."

Jason was still looking out the window. Seras placed a hand on the side of his face and brought it around to look into her eyes. She continued. "I know you, remember? No matter what, you'd never hurt your family."

Jason meekly asked, "How can you be so sure?" The question had the same tone as a man who dying of thirst and begging for a drink of water.

Seras forced a smile unto her lips. "Because, you didn't hurt me. I was lying on the ground, helpless and nearly dead. Your eyes were glowing red, but you didn't hurt me. You saved me. You defended me. You risked your own life and broke off fighting that she-vamp to protect me from the ghouls, not once, but twice. If that's the way you act when you're 'out of control' , you're more of a hero than you think."

"I'm not a hero. Heroes don't kill. They save lives."

"You saved mine."

Jason was quiet. _That may be true, but how many ghouls did I kill to do it? That can't be what being a hero is about, killing some to save others. That's not what my father would've done. He would've saved her without getting any blood on his hands. That's what heroes do. They saves people without killing. They find away._

Seras saw how quiet Jason had become. She knew that he wasn't ready to accept the title of 'hero'. "Well if not a hero, you are certainly no monster. But this place… This place will turn you into one. I know you don't want that." It wasn't really a question, but still Seras waited for a reply.

Jason responded by shaking his head back and forth a few times then letting it slump down.

Seras stood up and took Jason's hand. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home."

Jason grabbed his pad, pencils and markers then followed Seras. Jason still had mixed feelings about going home. He missed his family, his parents. He hoped that Seras was right, that he wasn't a threat to them. He had saved her. Maybe she was right. Maybe even when he was out of control he couldn't hurt people he cared about. Maybe he didn't become some monster but merely lost his self restraint, his logic. Maybe he was still a 'good guy' but one who simply acted on emotion, on instinct, a living id that would still protect those he cared for. That was what Seras thought. That was what she'd told him and what he wanted to believe. Even if it were true though, Jason still hurt inside. He wanted to go back to his family, but he didn't want to leave Seras. She'd seen his faults, his failings, everything that was wrong with him and didn't care about it. She loved him anyway. That kind of love, that kind of acceptance, even at ten years old, Jason knew it was a rare thing; and he loved her too, loved her like family. Jason was torn. He didn't know what to do, so he simply followed Seras's lead. He left the decision up to her. It was easier that way.

Seras led Jason to her new car, the one she'd 'confiscated' from Rip; then she drove him back to his parents hotel. "Okay, this is it. You… You go back to your family now. I'm sure they miss you." Seras chuckled. If she didn't laugh, she'd cry; and she didn't want Jason to see that. "They're probably worried sick about you."

"Are… Are you going to come up? Would you like to meet them?"

Seras shook her head. "No, it's best if they don't know about me. They are reporters, after all; and I kind of need to stay out of the limelight."

"They wouldn't write anything about you. They know how to keep a secret."

Seras knew that was true. After all, they had an even bigger one than she did. But the fact that they were reporters was just an excuse. The truth was Seras didn't want to see Jason reunited with his family. She didn't want to see the slow motion running, hear the violins and watch the embrace. She didn't know if she could take it. She wanted to keep the kid. "No. Even if they can keep a secret, Integra would still have my head if she knew I was hanging around with reporters."

"Then… Then I guess this is goodbye?"

"Yeah, kid. Fraid so."

Jason handed Seras the pad of paper. "Here, I want you to have this. Something to remember me by."

Seras took the pad. "Thanks, but I don't need this to remember you. You're one special kid."

Jason smiled but only for a moment. "Seras? I'll miss you. I wish… I wish there was someway you could come with me." Jason's face lit up. "Hey, maybe my Father could get you a spot on the Justice League! He was one of the founding members."

For a moment, Seras pictured herself standing along side Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the other heroes. She chuckled at the absurdity. _Yeah, right. A vampire on the Justice League? Like that would ever happen. _"I don't think that would work out too well, but…" Seras opened the pad of paper and flipped through it until she got to one of the empty pages. She took out one of the colored pencils and scribbled something onto the page, then she ripped it out. Seras handed the paper to Jason and continued, "Here. Do you know what an email address is?"

Jason gave Seras an amused look. "I'm ten."

_Of course, should've known he'd know. Kids these days are so into the high tech stuff. _"Well, this is my email address. If you ever need my help or… Or just want a friend to talk to, send me an email. I'll always be there for you."

Jason took the paper, leaned over the seat divider and gave Seras a rather strong hug. "Ditto."

Seras briefly wondered where a ten year old would pick up that word. She knew it from an old movie called "Ghost", but that movie was before Jason's time. Seras mentally shrugged, and decided not to dwell on it. She hugged Jason back, and they stayed like that for a few moments. Then Seras let go, and after a few more seconds, Jason pulled away. He opened the car door and got out. He looked at the entrance to the hotel then turned back and started to close the car door. Before closing it completely, he said, "I remember everything, always have. I won't forget you. I'll email you every single week."

Seras willed herself to not cry. She leaned over and messed Jason's hair one final time and playfully replied, "You better." Jason smiled then closed the car door and went into the hotel. Once Jason entered the hotel, Seras drove away.

Seras just drove around for awhile then headed back to the mansion. She pulled up in front of the main entrance and turned the car off. She was about to remove the key from the ignition when the dam finally broke. Seras put her head down on the steering wheel and had herself a good cry. She lost track of the time; but when her tears were all spent, Seras recomposed herself and went inside the mansion, completely forgetting to take the keys out of the ignition.

**Epilogue:**

**Jason **kept his promise and emailed Seras at least once a week. Sometimes nothing particularly exciting was happening in his life, but he still kept up the correspondence. Schoolwork, friends, exams, family life, even if the content was sometimes dull, Jason always found something to fill his emails with.

**Seras **looked forward to and enjoyed each of Jason's emails, especially the 'dull' ones. They acted as a window into a 'normal' life and reminded her that such a thing still existed. She kept up her side of the correspondence, as well. Although, she sometimes censured the content. There was no need for Jason to know just how many blessed bayonets Anderson had stuck into her or exactly how much 'fun' she had on some of her dates with her master, once he finally got around to asking (Okay, more like ordering) her to go out with him. Seras never lied in her letters, though. She always expressed her feelings and emotions truthfully and fully. She was just a little vague on some of the events that led to them.

**The two** kept there relationship strong with frequent emails; and a year latter they were reunited... for a time. Eventually they even worked together to save the world from a time-traveling cyborg bent on world domination. But such is a tale for another time.

**Alucard **was reprimanded for 'ignoring' Integra's summons. He was sentenced to a month without any transfusion blood and had to spend all his free time assisting Walter around the mansion. This turned out to be as big a punishment to poor Walter as it was to Alucard; and after three weeks of begging from her loyal butler, Integra finally lifted the 'domestic duties' part of Alucard's punishment.

**Integra **was angered by Jason's leaving, but there really wasn't much she could do about it. It wasn't like she was going to try to kidnap Superman's son; and Seras, wisely, kept her involvement in Jason's departure a secret. Integra did, however, order the fledgling to extend an open invitation to return to the Hellsing Mansion should she ever meet back up with the boy.

**Rip **finally escaped the mansion, although it was no easy trick. As it turned out, the members of Gamma were far too grateful to her for saving their lives. They simply refused to leave her alone long enough for her to get away. She eventually managed to slip away after everyone else had gone to sleep. In a rare stroke of good luck, Rip found her car parked outside the mansion, keys still in the ignition.

**Private Margaretha Zelle** was never heard or seen after the day following Millennium's attack on the Hellsing Mansion. The Private's sudden disappearance and, the fact, that it was later discovered there was no Margaretha Zelle on Hellsing's payroll led some of the soldiers, particularly those who had been members of Gamma, to believe that the private was in fact an angel sent to protect their leader from a surprise attack and watch over them during their time of greatest adversity.

(Well, what did you think of the ending? This chapter got a little away from me. The goodbye was not supposed to be **that **long. But once I got into writing it, I couldn't stop. I hope it wasn't too much. And I hope you enjoyed the dashes of humor in the Epilogue. Please review. Thanks.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)


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